PR 

3433 
F3AT 
1824 



1 





«** ° ° * 



\ 


















\ xv 


1 










^ v* N 



^* ' 






"T^ 




t 0KC 



V , 










% ** 


C ^> 




.\V J> 









Till 



IB I P¥E1 C K- BY FAL CONER . 




JPUBJLESHEB BYJOJOT" SWATRTPJE ■ 
IS 27. 



THE 



SHIPWRECK. 



WILLIAM FALCONER. 

u 



quaeque ipse miserrima vidi, 
Et quorum pars magna mi. Virg. /En. Lib. ii. 



LONDON : 

PRINTED FOR JOHN SHARPE; 

C. AND J. RIVINGTON, LONGMAN AND CO., T. CADELL, 

HARVEY AND CO., J. RICHARDSON, HATCHARD AND SON, 

BALDWIN AND CO., J. BOOKER, SUTTABY AND CO., 

SIMPKIN AND CO., COYVIE AND CO., J. DUNCAN, J. A. HESSEY, 

N. HAILES, G. B. WHITTAKER, SMITH AND CO., 

AND C. TILT. 



CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Ihe Shipwreck is one of those happy pro- 
ductions in which talent is seen in so exquisite 
adaptation to the nature of the subject, that it 
is difficult to determine whether the author is 
the most indebted to his subject, or the subject 
to the author. No one who had not passed 
through the circumstances which Falconer des- 
cribes could have painted them as he has done ; 
and of the comparatively few who have had the 
opportunity of drinking in the fearful inspira- 
tion of such scenes, and survived to tell oi 
them, Falconer is the first who appears to have 
possessed the genius requisite to retain and 



VI CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 

embody the impression, with the vigour of ima- 
gination and the fidelity of memory. It was not 
more necessary that he should be a poet than 
that he should be a seaman. He was eminently 
both ; and the Poem is as perfect in every tech- 
nical excellence, as it is in respect to the sim- 
plicity of its plan, the classical elegance of its 
composition, and the pathos of its narrative. It 
is altogether a unique production. 

Falconer originally designed the Poem, (as 
appears from an advertisement prefixed to the 
second edition, published in 1764), for the en- 
tertainment of " the gentlemen of the sea ;" but 
he complains that they had not formed one tenth 
of the purchasers. He printed that edition in a 
cheaper form, expressly with a view to render it 
more acceptable to the inferior officers. Falconer 
was thoroughly the seaman ; he was warmly 
attached to the profession, and prided himself 
more on his nautical science than on his literary 
talents. The author of the Shipwreck com- 
piled a " Universal Dictionary of the Marine," 



CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS. Vll 

a work which cost him years of extraordinary 
application. The Shipwreck is said to com- 
prize within itself the rudiments of navigation, 
so as even to claim to be considered as a gram- 
mar of the nautical science. The correctness of 
the rules and maxims laid down in the Poem, 
for the conduct of a ship under circumstances of 
perilous emergency, render it extremely valua- 
ble to the seaman. The notes originally affixed 
to the Poem, in explanation of the technical 
terms, the frequent introduction, and eupho- 
nous arrangement of which form so striking a 
peculiarity of the composition, were thought 
necessary by the Author, on account of there 
being, at that time, no modern dictionaries to 
which he could refer the reader, without for- 
feiting, by his implied commendation of them, 
his claim to the professional character he had 
assumed, — a claim of which he professes himself 
to be much more tenacious than of his reputa- 
tion as a poet. 

Fresh water critics venture out of their ele- 



Vlll CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 

merit in entering upon a minute examination of 
such a poem as this. The care with which it 
appears to have been elaborated, has, however, 
left little for the invidious notice of criticism. 
In a few instances, the hand of correction has 
been injudiciously applied in the editions of 
the Poem subsequent to its first appearance ; 
it is conjectured, that some of the alterations in 
the third edition, which are of this nature, are 
to be attributed to his having left the final re- 
vision to his friend Mallet, who, although a 
poet, was not a seaman. If the style of the 
Poem is faulty in any respect, it is in that of the 
too ambitious phraseology, by which it seems 
to have been Falconer's effort to sustain the 
epic dignity of the narrative. Into this fault 
the models of the day were adapted to seduce 
any young writer; and the versification he 
adopted presents a constant temptation to arti- 
ficial and inverted forms of expression. Thus 
for instance, to weigh anchor is paraphrased 
in the following line : — 

" Or win the anchor from its dark abode." 



CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS. IX 

The frequency of the classical allusions, by 
which also the Poet probably intended to ren- 
der his work more secundum, artem poetical, is 
justified by their local propriety. As suggested 
by the surrounding scenery, they seem perfectly 
natural; and they are introduced, generally, 
with considerable skill and effect. The most 
pleasing parts of the poem, however, are those 
in which the narration is characterized by all 
the simplicity of the seaman, rather than by 
the embellishments of a half-learned taste. 

Short and simple are the annals of poor 
Arion's history. He was born at Edinburgh, 
about the year 1730. His father was a poor 
but industrious barber, who had to maintain a 
large family, under the distressing circumstance 
of all his children, with the single exception of 
William, being either deaf or dumb. Reading 
English, writing, and a little arithmetic com- 
prised the Avhole of Falconer's education, al- 
though he afterwards acquired some knowledge 
of the French, Spanish, and Italian languages, 

B 



X CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 

and, it is added, even of the German. When 
very young, he entered on board a merchant 
vessel at Leith, in which he served an appren- 
ticeship. He was afterwards servant to Camp- 
bell, the author of Lexiphanes, when purser of 
a ship, who is stated to have taken considerable 
pains in improving the mind of the young sea- 
man, and to have subsequently felt a pride in 
boasting of his scholar. At what time the cala- 
mitous event occurred, which furnished the 
subject of the Shipwreck, has not been as- 
certained : he was then, it appears, employed 
in the Levant trade. He continued in the 
merchant service till 1762. In that year, the 
Shipwreck made its first appearance, in 
quarto, dedicated to his Royal Highness Ed- 
ward, Duke of York, who had hoisted his flag 
as rear admiral of the blue, on board the Prin- 
cess Amelia, of eighty guns, attached to the 
fleet under Sir Edward Hawke. The Poem 
immediately took with the public; and Fal- 
coner, having, as it is said, at the Duke's re- 
commendation, quitted the merchant service 



CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS. XI 

for the royal navy,, was soon after rated a 
midshipman on board the Royal George. 

At the peace of 1763, the Royal George was 
paid off, and Falconer, in the course of the 
same year, was appointed purser of the Glory 
frigate. Soon after this, he married a young- 
lady of the name of Hicks, who survived him. 
From the Glory, he was, in 1767, appointed 
to the Swiftsure. 

In 1764, he published a new edition of his 
Poem, in octavo, corrected and enlarged ; and, 
in the following year, a political satire on Lord 
Chatham, Wilkes, and Churchill, of which it 
is enough to say, that had Falconer never 
written any thing but satire, his name would 
long since have been forgotten. His Universal 
Dictionary of the Marine was published in 
1769, at which period he was resident in the 
metropolis, supporting himself chiefly by his 
literary exertions. Among other resources, he 
is said to have received a pittance from writing 
in the Critical Review, under his countryman 

b2 



Xll CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 

Mallet. He had received, the preceding year, 
proposals from his friend Mr. Murray, to enter 
into company with him as a bookseller, on his 
taking Mr. Sandby's business in Fleet Street ; 
it does not appear from what cause he was led 
to decline the offer. While he was preparing 
to publish a third edition of the Shipwreck, 
he obtained the highly advantageous appoint- 
ment of purser to the Aurora frigate, Captain 
Lee, which was ordered to carry out Mr. Van- 
sittart and the other Commissioners to India, 
with the promise of being made their private 
secretary. The catastrophe is well known. 
The Aurora frigate sailed on the 30th of Sep- 
tember, 1769, left the Cape on the 27th of 
December, and was heard of no more. It is 
the most probable opinion, that she foundered 
in the Mozambique Channel, the dangers of 
which the captain, in spite, as it -is said of 
remonstrances, was rash enough, although a 
stranger to its navigation, to encounter. 

In 1773, a black was examined before the 
East India Directors, who affirmed that he was 



CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS. Xlll 

one of five persons who Lad been saved from 
the wreck of the Aurora, and that she had 
been cast away on a reef of rocks off Mocoa. 

To these particulars, for which the public are 
chiefly indebted to the assiduous researches of 
the Rev. James Stanier Clarke, it may be 
added, on the same authority, that Falconer 
was, in his person, -about five feet seven inches 
in height, of a thin light make, hard featured, 
and weatherbeaten, of blunt and awkward 
manners , but cheerful, kind, and generous. 
He was, however, inclined to be satirical, and 
delighted in controversy : strange characteris- 
tics of a man who was a thorough seaman and 
a poet ! 



TWW 



IJTRODU C TIO^ . 




'Tis -mine, retire d "beneath this cavern, hoar 
That stands all lonely on the sea' heat shore, 
Far other themes of deep distrefs to sing 
Than ever trembled from the vocal string- : 



BRAWN BY RICHARD WES TALL Ji.A. ENGRAVED "BY WILLIAM FINDEN-. 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN SHARPE, LONDON. 
JAN. 1.1827. 



THE 

SHIPWRECK. 



INTRODUCTION. 

While jarring interests wake the world to arms, 
And fright the peaceful vale with dire alarms, 
While Albion bids the' avenging thunder roll 
Along her vassal deep from pole to pole ; 
Sick of the scene, where War with ruthless hand 
Spreads desolation o'er the bleeding land ; 
Sick of the tumult, where the trumpet's breath 
Bids ruin smile, and drowns the groan of death ; 
'Tis mine, retired beneath this cavern hoar, 
That stands all lonely on the seabeat shore, 
Far other themes of deep distress to sing 
Than ever trembled from the vocal string • 
A scene from dumb Oblivion to restore, 
To Fame unknown, and new to epic lore : 



16 INTRODUCTION* ' 

Where hostile elements conflicting rise, 
And lawless surges swell against the skies ? 
Till Hope expires, and Peril and Dismay 
Wave their black ensigns on the watery way. 

Immortal train ! who guide the maze of song, 
To whom all science, arts, and arms belong, 
Who bid the trumpet of eternal Fame 
Exalt the warrior's and the poet's name, 
Or in lamenting elegies express 
The varied pang of exquisite distress ; 
If e'er with trembling hope I fondly stray'd 
In life's fair morn beneath your hallow'd shade ? 
To hear the sweetly mournful lute complain, 
And melt the heart with ecstasy of pain, 
Or listen to the enchanting voice of love, 
While all Elysium warbled through the grove ; 
Oh ! by the hollow blast that moans around, 
That sweeps the wild harp with a plaintive sound j 
By the long surge that foams through yonder cave, j 
Whose vaults remurmur to the roaring wave ; 
With living colours give my verse to glow, 
The sad memorial of a Tale of Woe ! 
The fate, in lively sorrow, to deplore 
Of wanderers shipwreck'd on a leeward shore. 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

Alas ! neglected by the sacred Nine, 
Their suppliant feels no genial ray divine : 
Ah ! will they leave Pieria's happy shore, 
To plough the tide where wintry tempests roar 1 
Or shall a youth approach their hallow'd fane, 
Stranger to Phoebus and the tuneful train 1 
Far from the Muses' academic grove, 
'Twas his the vast and trackless deep to rove ; 
Alternate change of climates has he known, 
And felt the fierce extremes of either zone ; 
Where polar skies congeal the* eternal snow, 
Or equinoctial suns for ever glow, 
Smote by the freezing, or the scorching blast, 
" A shipboy on the high and giddy mast/' 
From regions where Peruvian billows roar, 
To the bleak coasts of savage Labrador 
From where Damascus, pride of Asian plains, 
Stoops her proud neck beneath tyrannic chains 
To where the Isthmus, laved by adverse tides, 
Atlantic and Pacific seas divides : 
But while he measured o'er the painful race 
In Fortune's wild illimitable chase, 
Adversity, companion of his way, 
ytill o'er the victim hung with iron sway, 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

Bade new distresses every instant grow, 

Marking each change of place with change of woe ; 

In regions where the' Almighty's chastening hand 

With livid pestilence afflicts the land, 

Or where pale famine hlasts the hopeful year, 

Parent of want and misery severe ; 

Or where, all dreadful in the' embattled line, 

The hostile ships in naming combat join, 

Where the torn vessel wind and waves assail, 

Till o'er her crew distress and death prevail. — 

Such joyless toils, in early youth endured, 

The' expanding dawn of mental day obscured, 

Each genial passion of the soul oppress 'd, 

And quench'd the ardour kindling in his breast : 

Then censure not severe the native song, 

Though jarring sounds the measured verse prolong, 

Though terms uncouth offend the softer ear, 

Yet truth, and human anguish deign to hear : 

No laurel wreaths these lays attempt to claim, 

Nor sculptured brass to tell the poet's name. 

And lo ! the power that wakes the' eventful song 
Hastes hither from Lethean banks along ; 
She sweeps the gloom, and, rushing on the sight, 
Spreads o'er the kindling scene propitious light ; 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

In her right hand an ample roll appears, 

Fraught with long annals of preceding years, 

With every wise and noble art of man 

Since first the circling hours their course began ; 

Her left a silver wand on high display'd, 

Whose magic touch dispels oblivion's shade : 

Pensive her look ; on radiant wings that glow, 

Like Juno's birds or Iris' flaming bow, 

She sails ; and swifter than the course of light 

Directs her rapid intellectual flight : 

The fugitive ideas she restores, 

And calls the wandering thought from Lethe's shores, 

To things long past a second date she gives, 

And hoary Time from her fresh youth receives ; 

Congenial sister of immortal Fame, 

She shares her power, and Memory is her name. 

O firstborn daughter of primeval Time ! 
By whom transmitted down in every clime 
The deeds of ages long elapsed are known, 
And blazon'd glories spread from zone to zone ; 
Whose magic breath dispels the mental night, 
And o'er the' obscured idea pours the light ; 
Say, on what seas, for thou alone canst tell, 
What dire mishap a fated ship befell, 



20 INTRODUCTION, 

Assail' d by tempests, girt with hostile shores ! 
Arise ! approach ! unlock thy treasured stores ! 
Full on my soul the dreadful scene display, 
And give its latent horrors to the day. 



THE 

SHIPWRECK. 



CANTO I. 

THE SCENE OF WHICH LIES NEAR THE CITY OF CANDLi. 



TIME,— ABOUT FOUR DAYS AND A HALF. 



ARGUMENT. 

I. Retrospect of the Voyage — Arrival at Candia — State of 
that Island— Season of the Year described. — II. Character 
of the Master and his Officers, Albert, Rodmond, and Arion 
— Palemon, Son to the Owner of the Ship — Attachment of 
Palemon to Anna, the Daughter of Albert.— III. Noon — 
Palemon' s History. — IV. Sunset — Midnight — Arion's 
Dream — Unmoor by Moonlight — Morning — Sun's Azimuth 
taken— Beautiful Appearance of the Ship, as seen by the 
Natives from the Shore. 



Timn 



CANTO I. 




Blif s supreme! where "Virtue's self can melt 
With joys, that guilty Flea-sure never felt ; 
Formed to refine the thought with chaste desire, 
And Mndle sweet Affection's purest fire. 



DJLAWN BY RICHARD AVE STALL, R.A. ENGRAVED BY WILLIAM FINDEK; 
PUBLISHED BY .JOHN SHARPE, LONDON. 
i . JAN. 1,182 7. 



THE 

SHIPWRECK. 

CANTO I. 

I. A ship from Egypt o'er the deep impell'd 
By guiding winds her course for Venice held ; 
Of famed Britannia were the gallant crew, 
And from that isle her name the vessel drew ; 
The wayward steps of Fortune they pursued, 
And sought in certain ills imagined good : 
Though cautioned oft her slippery path to shun, 
Hope still with promised joys allured them on; 
And, while they listened to her winning lore, 
The softer scenes of peace could please no more : 
Long absent they from friends and native home 
The cheerless ocean were inured to roam ; 
Yet Heaven, in pity to severe distress, 
Had crown'd each painful voyage with success ; 



24 THE SHIPWRECK. < 

Still to compensate toils and hazards past, 
Restored them to maternal plains at last. 

Thrice had the sun, to rule the varying year, 
Across the' equator roll'd his naming sphere, 
Since last the vessel spread her ample sail 
From Albion's coast, obsequious to the gale ; 
She o'er the spacious flood from shore to shore 
Unwearying wafted her commercial store ; 
The richest ports of Afric she had view'd, 
Thence to fair Italy her course pursued ; 
Had left behind Trinacria's burning isle, 
And visited the margin of the Nile : 
And now, that winter deepens round the Pole, 
The circling voyage hastens to its goal ; 
They, blind to Fate's inevitable law, 
No dark event to blast their hope foresaw, 
But from gay Venice soon expect to steer 
For Britain's coast, and dread no perils near ; 
Inflamed by Hope, their throbbing hearts elate 
Ideal pleasures vainly antedate, 
Before whose vivid intellectual ray 
Distress recedes, and danger melts away : 
Already British coasts appear to rise, 
The chalky cliffs salute their longing eyes ; 



C I, THE SHIPWRECK. 25 

Each to his breast, where floods of rapture roll, 
Embracing strains the mistress of his soul ; 
Nor less o'erjoy'd, with sympathetic truth, 
Each faithful maid expects the' approaching youth : 
In distant souls congenial passions glow, 
And mutual feelings mutual bliss bestow — 
Such shadowy happiness their thoughts employ, 
Illusion all, and visionary joy ! 

Thus time elapsed, while o'er the pathless tide 
Their ship through Grecian seas the pilots guide. 
Occasion call'd to touch at Candia's shore, [plore ; 
Which, bless'd with favouring winds, they soon ex- 
The haven enter, borne before the gale, 
Despatch their commerce, and prepare to sail. 

Eternal powers ! what ruins from afar 
Mark the fell track of desolating war ! 
Here arts and commerce with auspicious reign 
Once breathed sweet influence on the happy plain ; 
While o'er the lawn, with dance and festive song, 
Young Pleasure led the jocund Hours along ; 
Jn gay luxuriance Ceres too was seen 
To crown the valleys with eternal green : 
For wealth, for valour, courted and revered, 
What Albion is, fair Candia then appear'd. — 

c 



26 THE SHIPWRECK. C. I. 

Ah ! who the flight of ages can revoke 1 

The free-born spirit of her sons is broke, 

They bow to Ottoman's imperious yoke ; 

No longer Fame the drooping heart inspires, 

For stern Oppression quench'd its genial fires : 

Though still her fields, with golden harvests crown'd, 

Supply the barren shores of Greece around, 

Sharp penury afflicts these wretched isles, 

There Hope ne'er dawns, and pleasure never smiles; 

The vassal wretch contented drags his chain, 

And hears his famish'd babes lament in vain ; 

These eyes have seen the dull reluctant soil 

A seventh year mock the weary labourer's toil. — 

No blooming Venus on the desert shore 

Now views with triumph captive gods adore ; 

No lovely Helens now with fatal charms 

Excite the' avenging chiefs of Greece to arms ; 

No fair Penelopes enchant the eye, 

For whom contending kings were proud to die ; 

Here sullen Beauty sheds a twilight ray, 

While Sorrow bids her vernal bloom decay ; 

Those charms, so long renown'd in classic strains, 

Had dimly shone on Albion's happier plains ! 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



27 



Now, in the southern hemisphere, the sun 
Through the bright Virgin and the Scales had run, 
And on the' ecliptic wheel'd his winding w r ay 
Till the fierce Scorpion felt his flaming ray. 
Four days becalm' d the vessel here remains, 
And yet no hopes of aiding wind obtains ; 
For sickening vapours lull the air to sleep, 
And not a breeze aw r akes the silent deep : 
This, when the autumnal equinox is o'er, 
And Phoebus in the north declines no more, 
The. watchful mariner, w T hom Heaven informs, 
Oft deems the prelude of approaching storms. 
N o dread of storms the master's soul restrain, 
A captive fetter 'd to the oar of gain : 
His anxious heart, impatient of delay, 
Expects the winds to sail from Candia's bay, 
Determined, from whatever point they rise, 
To trust his fortune to the seas and skies. 

Thou living ray of intellectual fire, 
Whose voluntary gleams my verse inspire, 
Ere yet the deepening incidents prevail, 
Till roused attention feel our plaintive tale, 
Record whom chief among the gallant crew 
The' unbless'd pursuit of fortune hither drew : 

c2 



28 THE SHIPWRECK, . C. U 

Can sons of Neptune, generous, brave, and bold, 
In pain and hazard toil for sordid gold 1 

They can ! for gold, too oft with magic art, 
Can rule the passions and corrupt the heart : 
This crowns the prosperous villain with applause, 
To whom in vain sad Merit pleads her cause ; 
This strews with roses Life's perplexing road, 
And leads the way to Pleasure's soft abode ; 
This spreads with slaughter'd heaps the bloody plain, 
And pours adventurous thousands o'er the main. 

II. The stately ship, with all her daring band, 
To skilful Albert own'd the chief command : 
Though train' d in boisterous elements, his mind 
Was yet by soft humanity refined ; 
Each joy of wedded love, at home, he knew, 
Abroad, confess' d the father of his crew ! 
Brave, liberal, just ! the calm domestic scene 
Had o'er his temper breathed a gay serene : 
Him Science taught by mystic lore to trace 
The planets wheeling in eternal race ! 
To mark the ship in floating balance held, 
By earth attracted, and by seas repell'd ; 
Or point her devious track through climes unknown, 
That leads to every shore and every zone : 



-C. I. THE SHIPWRECK. 29 

He saw the moon through Heaven's blue concave glide, 

And into motion charm the' expanding tide, 

While earth impetuous round her axle rolls, 

Exalts her watery zone, and sinks the Poles ; ■ 

Light and attraction, from their genial source, 

He saw still wandering with diminished force ; 

While on the margin of declining day 

Night's shadowy cone reluctant melts away— 

Inured to peril, with unconquer'd soul, 

The chief beheld tempestuous oceans roll ; 

O'er the wild surge, when dismal shades preside, 

His equal skill the lonely bark could guide ; 

His genius, ever for the' event prepared, 

Rose with the storm, and all its dangers shared. 

Rodmond the next degree to Albert bore, 
A hardy son of England's farthest shore, 
Where bleak Northumbria pours her savage train 
In sable squadrons o'er the northern main ; 
That, with her pitchy entrails stored, resort, 
A sooty tribe, to fair Augusta's port : 
Where'er in ambush lurk the fatal sands, 
They claim the danger, proud of skilful bands ; 
For while with darkling course their vessels sweep 
The winding shore, or plough the faithless deep, 4 



30 THE SHIPWRECK. C I. 

O'er bar, and shelve, the watery path they sound 
With dexterous arm, sagacious of the ground : 
Fearless they combat every hostile wind, 
Wheeling in mazy tracks, with course inclined, 
Expert to moor where terrors line the road, 
Or win the anchor from its dark abode ; 
But drooping, and relax'd, in climes afar, 
Tumultuous and undisciplined in war. 
Such Rodmond was ; by learning unrefined, 
That oft enlightens to corrupt the mind. 
Boisterous of manners ; train' d in early youth 
To scenes that shame the conscious cheek of truth ; 
To scenes that nature's struggling voice control, 
And freeze compassion rising in the soul : 
Where the grim hell-hounds prowling round the shore, 
With foul intent the stranded bark explore ! 
Deaf to the voice of woe, her decks they board, 
While tardy justice slumbers o'er her sword. 
The' indignant muse, severely taught to feel, 
Shrinks from a theme she blushes to reveal. 
Too oft example, arm'd with poisons fell, 
Pollutes the shrine where mercy loves to dwell : 
Thus Rodmond, train'd by this unhallow'd crew, 
The sacred social passions never knew. 



C. I. THE SHIPWRECK. 31 

Unskill'd to argue, in dispute yet loud, 
Bold without caution, without honours proud ; 
In art unschool'd, each veteran rule he prized, 
And all improvement haughtily despised. 
Yet, though full oft to future perils blind, 
"With skill superior glow'd his daring mind, 
Through snares of death the reeling bark to guide, 
When midnight shades involve the raging tide. 

To Rodmond next, in order of command, 
Succeeds the youngest of our naval band : 
But what avails it to record a name 
That courts no rank among the sons of fame ; 
Whose vital spring had just begun to bloom, 
When o'er it Sorrow spread her sickening gloom ] 
W r hile yet a stripling, oft with fond alarms 
His bosom danced to Nature's boundless charms ; 
On him fair Science dawn'd in happier hour, 
Awakening into bloom young Fancy's flower : 
But frowning fortune with untimely blast 
The blossom wither'd, and the dawn o'ercast. 
Forlorn of heart, and by severe decree 
Condemn'd reluctant to the faithless sea, 
W r ith long farewell he left the laurel grove, 
Where science and the tuneful sisters rove. 



S2 THE SHIPWRECK. C. 3 

Hither he wander' d, anxious to explore 

Antiquities of nations now no more ; 

To penetrate each distant realm unknown, 

And range excursive o'er the untravel'd zone i 

In vain — for rude Adversity's command 

Still on the margin of each famous land 

With unrelenting ire his steps opposed, 

And every gate of hope against him closed. 

Permit my verse, ye bless' d Pierian train \ 

To call Arion this ill fated swain ; 

For like that bard unhappy, on his head 

Malignant stars their hostile influence shed : 

Both, in lamenting numbers, o'er the deep 

With conscious anguish taught the harp to weep t 

And both the raging surge in safety bore, 

Amid destruction, panting to the shore : 

This last, our tragic story from the wave 

Of dark oblivion, haply, yet may save ; 

With genuine sympathy may yet complain, 

While sad Remembrance bleeds at every vein. 

These, chief among the ship's conducting train., 
Her path explored along the deep domain ; 
Train'd to command, and range the swelling sail, 
Whose varying force conforms to every gale. 



,C. I. THE SHIPWRECK. .S3 

Charged with the commerce, hither also came 
A gallant youth, Palemon was his name : 
A father's stern resentment doom'd to prove, 
He came the victim of unhappy love ! 
His heart for Albert's beauteous daughter bled, 
For her a sacred flame his bosom fed : 
Nor let the wretched slaves of folly scorn 
This genuine passion, Nature's eldest born ! 
'Twas his with lasting anguish to complain, 
While blooming Anna mourn' d the cause in vain. 

Graceful of form, by nature taught to please, 
Of power to melt the female breast with ease ; 
To her Palemon told his tender tale, 
Soft as the voice of summer's evening gale ; 
His soul, where moral truth spontaneous grew, 
No guilty wish, no cruel passion knew : 
Though tremblingly alive to Nature's laws, 
Yet ever firm to Honour's sacred cause 5 
O'erjoy'd he saw her lovely eyes relent, 
The blushing maiden smiled with sweet consent. 
Oft in the mazes of a neighbouring grove 
Unheard they breathed alternate vows of love : 
By fond society their passion grew 
Like the young blossom fed with vernal dew ; 



34 THE SHIPWRECK. C. I 

While their chaste souls possess'd the pleasing pains 
That truth improves, and virtue ne'er restrains. 
In evil hour the' officious tongue of fame 
Betray'd the secret of their mutual flame. 
With grief and anger struggling in his breast, 
Palemon's father heard the tale confess'd ; 
Long had he listen' d with Suspicion's ear, 
And learn'd, sagacious, this event to fear. 
Too well, fair youth ! thy liberal heart he knew, 
A heart to Nature's warm impressions true : 
Full oft his wisdom strove with fruitless toil 
With avarice to pollute that generous soil ; 
That soil impregnated with nobler seed 
Refused the culture of so rank a weed. 
Elate with wealth in active Commerce won, 
And basking in the smile of Fortune's sun 
(For many freighted ships from shore to shore 
Their wealthy charge by his appointment bore) ; 
With scorn the parent eyed the lowly shade 
That veil'd the beauties of this charming maid. 
He, by the lust of riches only moved, 
Such mean connexions haughtily reproved ; 
Indignant he rebuked the' enamour'd boy, 
The flattering promise of his future joy; 



C. I. THE SHIPWRECK. 35 

He soothed and menaced, anxious to reclaim 
This hopeless passion, or divert its aim ; 
Oft led the youth where circling joys delight 
The ravish' d sense, or beauty charms the sight. 
"With all her powers enchanting Music fail'd, 
And Pleasure's siren voice no more prevail' d ; 
Long, with unequal art, in vain he strove 
To quench the' etherial flame of ardent love. 

The merchant, kindling then with proud disdain, 
In look, and voice, assumed a harsher strain. 
In absence now his only hope remain' d ; 
And such the stern decree his will ordain'd : 
Deep anguish, while Palemon heard his doom, 
Drew o'er his lovely face a saddening gloom ; 
High beat his heart, fast flow'd the unbidden tear, 
His bosom heaved with agony severe ; 
In vain with bitter sorrow he repined, 
No tender pity touch' d that sordid mind — 
To thee, brave Albert ! was the charge consign'd. 
The stately ship, forsaking England's shore, 
To regions far remote Palemon bore. 
Incapable of change, the' unhappy youth 
Still loved fair Anna with eternal truth ; 
Still Anna's image swims before his sight 
In fleeting vision through the restless night ; 



36 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



From clime to clime an exile doom'd to roam, 
His heart still panted for its secret home. 

The moon had circled twice her wayward zone, 
To him since young Arion first was known ; 
Who, wandering here through many a scene renown' d, 
In Alexandria's port the vessel found ; 
Where, anxious to review his native shore, 
He on the roaring wave embark' d once more. 
Oft by pale Cynthia's melancholy light 
With him Palemon kept the watch of night, 
In whose sad bosom many a sigh suppress'd 
Some painful secret of the soul confess'd : 
Perhaps Arion soon the cause divined, 
Though shunning still to probe a wounded miad; 
He felt the chastity of silent woe, 
Though glad the balm of comfort to bestow. 
He with Palemon oft recounted o'er 
The tales of hapless love in ancient lore, 
Recall' d to memory by the' adjacent shore : 
The scene thus present, and its story known, 
The lover sigh'd for sorrows not his own. 
Thus, though a recent date their friendship bore, 
Soon the ripe metal own'd the quickening ore ; 
For in one tide their passions seem'd to roll, 
By kindred age and sympathy of soul. 



C. I. THE SHIPWRECK. 37 

These o'er the' inferior naval train preside, 
The course determine, or the commerce guide : 
O'er all the rest an undistinguish'd crew, 
Her wing of deepest shade Oblivion drew. 

III. A sullen languor still the skies oppress' d, 
And held the' unwilling ship in strong arrest : 
High in his chariot glow'd the lamp of day, 
O'er Ida flaming with meridian ray; 
Relax'd from toil, the sailors range the shore 
Where famine, war, and storm are felt no more ; 
The hour to social pleasure they resign, 
And black remembrance drown in generous wine, 
On deck, beneath the shading canvass spread, 
Rodmond a rueful tale of wonders read, 
Of dragons roaring on the' enchanted coast; 
The hideous goblin and the yelling ghost : 
But with Arion, from the sultry heat 
Of noon, Palemon sought a cool retreat. — 
And lo ! the shore with mournful prospects crown'd, 
The rampart torn with many a fatal wound, 
The ruin'd bulwark tottering o'er the strand, 
Bewail the stroke of war's tremendous hand : 
What scenes of w T oe this hapless isle o'erspread 
Where late thrice fifty thousand warriors bled. 



38 THE SHIPWRECK. C. f. 

Full twice twelve summers were yon towers assail'd, 
Till barbarous Ottoman at last prevail'd; 
While thundering mines the lovely plains o'erturn'd, 
While heroes fell, and domes and temples bum'd. 

But now before them happier scenes arise, 
Elysian vales salute their ravish'd eyes ; 
Olive and cedar form'd a grateful shade, 
Where light with gay romantic error stray'd : 
The myrtles here with fond caresses twine, 
There, rich with nectar, melts the pregnant vine : 
And lo ! the stream, renown' d in classic song, 
Sad Lethe, glides the silent vale along. 
On mossy banks, beneath the citron grove, 
The youthful wanderers found a wild alcove .; 
Soft o'er the fairy region languor stole, 
And with sweet melancholy charm' d the soul. 
Here first Palemon, while his pensive mind 
For consolation on his friend reclined, 
In Pity's bleeding bosom pour'd the stream 
Of Love's soft anguish and of grief supreme : 
" Too true thy words ! by sweet remembrance taught; 
My heart in secret bleeds with tender thought , 
In vain it courts the solitary shade, 
By every action, every look betray' d : 



C. I. THE SHIPWRECK. OV 

The pride of generous woe disdains appeal 
To hearts that unrelenting frosts congeal : 
Yet sure, if right Palemon can divine, 
The sense of gentle pity dwells in thine : 
Yes ! all his cares thy sympathy shall know, 
And prove the kind companion of his woe. 

" Albert thou know'st with skill and science graced ; 
In humble station though by fortune placed, 
Yet never seaman more serenely brave 
Led Briton's conquering squadrons o'er the wave : 
Where full in view Augusta's spires are seen, 
With flowery law T ns, and waving woods between, 
An humble habitation rose, beside 
Where Thames meandering rolls his ample tide : 
There live the hope and pleasure of his life, 
A pious daughter and a faithful wife : 
For his return with fond officious care 
Still every grateful object these prepare : 
Whatever can allure the smell or sight, 
Or wake the drooping spirits to delight, 

" This blooming maid in Virtue's path to guide 
The' admiring parents all their care applied : 
Her spotless soul, to soft affection train'd, 
No voice untuned, no sickening folly stain'd : 



40 THE SHIPWRECK. C. 1. 

Not fairer grows the lily of the vale, 
Whose bosom opens to the vernal gale : 
Her eyes, unconscious of their fatal charms, 
Thrill' d every heart with exquisite alarms : 
Her face, in Beauty's sweet attraction dress'd, 
The smile of maiden innocence express'd ; 
While health, that rises with the new-born day, 
Breathed o'er her cheek the softest blush of May : 
Still in her look complacence smiled serene ; 
She moved the charmer of the rural scene ! 

" 'Twas at that season when the fields resume 
Their loveliest hues, array'd in vernal bloom : 
Yon ship, rich freighted from the' Italian shore, 
To Thames' fair banks her costly tribute bore : 
While thus my father saw his ample hoard 
From this return, with recent treasures stored ; 
Me, with affairs of commerce charged, he sent 
To Albert's humble mansion — soon I went ! 
Too soon, alas ! unconscious of the' event. 
There, struck with sweet surprise and silent awe, 
The gentle mistress of my hopes I saw : 
There, wounded first by Love's resistless arms, 
My glowing bosom throbb'd with strange alarms : 
My ever charming Anna ! who alone 
Can all the frowns of cruel fate atone ; 



C. I , THE SHIPWRECK. 41 

Oh ! while all conscious Memory holds her power, 
Can I forget that sweetly painful hour, 
When from those eyes, with lovely lightning fraught, 
My fluttering spirits first the infection caught? 
When, as I gazed, my faltering tongue betray 'd 
The heart's quick tumults, or refused its aid ; 
While the dim light my ravish'd eyes forsook, 
And every limb, unstrung with terror, shook ; 
With all her powers, dissenting Reason strove 
l To tame at first the kindling flame of Love : 
She strove in vain ; subdued by charms divine, 
My soul a victim fell at Beauty's shrine. 
Oft from the din of bustling life I stray'd, 
In happier scenes to see my lovely maid; 
I Full oft, where Thames his wandering current leads, 
We roved at evening hour through flowery meads; 
There, while my heart's soft anguish I reveal'd, 
To her with tender sighs my hope appeal'd : 
While the sweet nymph my faithful tale believed, 
Her snowy breast with secret tumult heaved : 
For, train' d in rural scenes from earliest youth, 
Nature was hers, and innocence, and truth : 
She never knew the city damsel's art, 
Whose frothy pertness charms the vacant heart. — 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



My suit prevail'd ! for love inform' d my tongue. 
And on his votary's lips persuasion hung. 
Her eyes with conscious sympathy withdrew, 
And o'er her cheek the rosy current flew. 
Thrice happy hours ; where with no dark allay 
Life's fairest sunshine gilds the vernal day : 
For here the sigh, that soft affection heaves, 
From stings of sharper woe the soul relieves : 
Elysian scenes ! too happy long to last, 
Too soon a storm the smiling dawn o'ercast : 
Too soon some demon to my father bore 
The tidings that his heart with anguish tore. 
My pride to kindle, with dissuasive voice 
Awhile he labour'd to degrade my choice : 
Then, in the whirling wave of pleasure, sought 
From its loved object to divert my thought: 
With equal hope he might attempt to bind 
In chains of adamant the lawless wind ; 
For Love had aim'd the fatal shaft too sure, 
Hope fed the wound, and Absence knew no cure. 
With alienated look, each art he saw 
Still baffled by superior Nature's law. 
His anxious mind on various schemes revolved, 
At last on cruel exile he resolved : 



t 1 . I. THE SHIPWRECK. 

The rigorous doom was fix'd ; alas ! how vain 

To him of tender anguish to complain : 

His soul, that never Love's sweet influence felt, 

By social sympathy could never melt ; 

With stern command, to Albert's charge he gave 

To waft Palemon o'er the distant wave. 

" The ship was laden and prepared to sail, 
And only waited now the leading gale : * 
'Twas ours, in that sad period, first to prove 
1 The poignant torments of despairing love ; 
The' impatient wish that never feels repose, 
Desire that with perpetual current flows ! 
The fluctuating pangs of hope and fear, 
Joy distant still, and Sorrow ever near. 
'Thus, while the pangs of thought severer grew, 
The western breezes inauspicious blew, 
Hastening the moment of our last adieu. 
The vessel parted on the falling tide, 
Yet time one sacred hour to love supplied ; 
The night was silent, and advancing fast, 
The moon o'er Thames her silver mantle cast; 
Impatient Hope the midnight path explored, 
And led me to the nymph my soul adored. 
Soon her quick footsteps struck my listening ear, 
She came confess'd ! the lovely maid drew near ! 

d 2 



44 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



Bat, all ! what force of language can impart 
The' impetuous joy that glow'd in either heart : 
O ye ! whose melting hearts are form'd to prove 
The trembling ecstasies of genuine love ; 
When, with delicious agony, the thought 
Is to the verge of high delirium wrought ; 
Your secret sympathy alone can tell 
What raptures then the throbbing bosom swell : 
O'er all the nerves what tender tumults roll, 
Wliile love with sweet enchantment melts the soul. 
" In transport lost, by trembling hope impress'd, 
The blushing virgin sunk upon my breast. 
While hers congenial beat with fond alarms : 
Dissolving softness! Paradise of charms ! 
Flash'd from our eyes, in warm transfusion flew 
Our blending spirits, that each other drew ! 
O bliss supreme ! where Virtue's self can melt 
With joys that guilty pleasure never felt; 
Form'd to refine the thought with chaste desire, 
And kindle sweet Affection's purest fire. 
' An ! wherefore should my hopeless love (she cries, 
While sorrow bursts with interrupting sighs), — 
For ever destined to lament in vain, 
Such flattering fond ideas entertain ? 



f% I. THE SHIPWRECK. 45 

My heart, through scenes of fair illusion, stray'd 
To joys decreed for some superior maid. 
'Tis mine, abandon'd to severe distress, 
Still to complain, and never hope redress — 
Go then, dear youth ! thy father's rage atone, 
And let this tortured bosom beat alone. 
The hovering anger yet thou mayst appease ! 
Go then, dear youth ! nor tempt the faithless seas. 
Find out some happier maid, whose equal charms 
With Fortune's fairer joys may bless thy arms : 
i Where, smiling o'er thee with indulgent ray, 
i Prosperity shall hail each new-born day : 
Too well thou know'st good Albert's niggard fate, 
111 fitted to sustain thy father's hate. 
Go then, I charge thee by thy generous love 
That fatal to my father thus may prove ; 
On me alone let dark affliction fall, 
Whose heart for thee will gladly suffer all. 
Then haste thee hence, Palemon, ere too late, 
Nor rashly hope to brave opposing fate.' 
' " She ceased : while anguish in her angel face 
O'er all her beauties s*hower' d celestial grace : 
Not Helen, in her bridal charms array'd, 
Was half so lovely as this gentle maid. — 



46 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



" ' O soul of all my wishes ! (I replied,) 
Can that soft fabric stem Affliction's tide 1 
Canst thou, bright pattern of exalted truth, 
To sorrow 7 doom the summer of thy youth, 
And I, in grateful ! all that sweetness see 
Consign'd to lasting misery for me ? 
Sooner this moment may the' Eternal doom 
Palemon in the silent earth entomb ', 
Attest, thou moon, fair regent of the night ! 
Whose lustre sickens at this mournful sight : 
By all the pangs divided lovers feel, 
Which sweet possession only knows to heal : 
By all the horrors brooding o'er the deep, 
Where fate and ruin sad dominion keep ; 
Though tyrant duty o'er me threatening stands, 
And claims obedience to her stern commands, 
Should fortune cruel or auspicious prove, 
Her smile, or frown, shall never change my love ; 
My heart, that now must every joy resign, 
Incapable of change, is only thine. 

" Oh, cease to weep, this storm will yet decay, 
And the sad clouds of sorrow melt away : 
While through the rugged path of life we go, 
All mortals taste the bitter draught of woe. 



C, I. THE SHIPWRECK. 47 

The famed and great, decreed to equal pain, 

Full oft in splendid wretchedness complain: 

For this, prosperity, with brighter ray, 

In smiling contrast gilds our vital day. 

Thou too, sweet maid ! ere twice ten months are o'er, 

Shall hail Palemon to his native shore, 

Where never interest shall divide us more.' 

" Her struggling soul, o'erwhelm'd with tender grief, 
Now found an interval of short relief : 
So melts the surface of the frozen stream 
Beneath the wintry sun's departing beam. 
With cruel haste the shades of night withdrew, 
And gave the signal of a sad adieu : 
As on my neck the' afflicted maiden hung, 
A thousand racking doubts her spirit wrung ; 
She wept the terrors of the fearful wave, 
Too oft, alas ! the wandering lover's grave : 
With soft persuasion I dispell' d her fear, 
And from her cheek beguiled the falling tear, 
While dying fondness languish'd in her eyes, 
She pour'd her soul to heaven in suppliant sighs : 
' Look down with pity, O ye powers above ! 
Who hear the sad complaint of bleeding love ; 



48 .THE SHIPWRECK. i 

Ye, who the secret laws of fate explore, 
Alone can tell if he return no more ; 
Or if the hour of future joy remain, 
Long-wish'd atonement of long-suffer'd pain, 
Bid every guardian minister attend, 
And from all ill the much loved youth defend/ 
With grief o'erwhelm'd we parted twice in vain,, 
And, urged by strong attraction, met again.. 
At last, by cruel fortune torn apart, 
While tender passion beat in either heart, 
Our eyes transfix'd with agonizing look, 
One sad farewell, one last embrace we took^ 
Forlorn of hope the lovely maid I left, 
Pensive and pale, of every joy bereft i 
She to her silent couch retired to weep, 
Whilst I embark'd, in sadness, on the deep.' 7 

His tale thus closed, from sympathy of grief 
Palemon's bosom felt a sweet relief; 
To mutual friendship thus sincerely true, 
No secret wish, or fear, their bosoms knew ; 
In mutual hazards oft severely tried, 
Nor hope nor danger could their love divide. 

Ye tender maids ! in whose pathetic souls 
Compassion's sacred stream impetuous rolls* 



C. I. THE SHIPWRECK. 49 

Whose warm affections exquisitely feel 

The secret wound you tremble to reveal; 

Ah ! may no wanderer of the stormy main 

Pour through your breasts the soft delicious bane ; 

May never fatal tenderness approve 

The fond effusions of their ardent love : 

Oh ! warn'd, avoid the path that leads to woe, 

Where thorns, and baneful weeds, alternate grow : 

Let them severer stoic nymphs possess, 

Whose stubborn passions feel no soft distress. 

Now as the youths returning o'er the plain 
Approach'd the lonely margin of the main, 
First, with attention roused, Arion eyed 
The graceful lover, form'd in Nature's pride : 
His frame the happiest symmetry display'd, 
And locks of waving gold his neck array' d ; 
In every look the Paphian graces shine, 
Soft breathing o'er his cheek their bloom divine : 
With lighten' d heart he smiled serenely gay, 
Like young Adonis, or the son of May. 
Not Cytherea from a fairer swain 
Received her apple on the Trojan plain. 

IV. The Sun's bright orb, declining all serene. 
Now glanced obliquely o'er the woodland scene : 



50 THE SHIPWRECK. C I. 

Creation smiles around ; on every spray 
The warbling birds exalt their evening lay : 
Blithe skipping o'er yon hill, the fleecy train 
Join the deep chorus of the lowing plain ; 
The golden lime and orange there were seen 
On fragrant branches of perpetual green ; 
The crystal streams that velvet meadows lave, 
To the green ocean roll with chiding wave. 
The glassy ocean hush'd forgets to roar, 
But trembling murmurs on the sandy shore ; 
And lo ! his surface lovely to behold 
Glows in the west, a sea of living gold ! 
While, all above, a thousand liveries gay 
The skies with pomp ineffable array. 
Arabian sweets perfume the happy plains j 
A^ove, beneath, around, enchantment reigns ! 
While glowing vesper leads the starry train, 
And night slow draws her veil o'er land and main ! 
Emerging clouds the azure east invade, 
And wrap the lucid spheres in gradual shade ; 
While yet the songsters of the vocal grove, 
With dying numbers, tune the soul to love : 
With joyful eyes the' attentive master sees 
The' auspicious omens of an eastern breeze. 



C. I. THE SHIPWRECK. 51 

Round the charged bowl the sailors form a ring ; 
By turns recount the wondrous tale, or sing, 
As love, or battle, hardships of the main, 
Or genial wine awake the homely strain : 
Then some the watch of night alternate keep, 
The rest lie buried in oblivious sleep. 

"Deep midnight now involves the livid skies, 
When eastern breezes, yet enervate, rise; 
The waning moon behind a watery shroud 
Pale glimmered o'er the long protracted cloud ; 
A mighty halo round her silver throne, 
With parting meteors cross'd, portentous shone : 
This in the troubled sky full oft prevails, 
Oft deem'd a signal of tempestuous gales. 

While young Arion sleeps, before his sight 
Tumultuous swim the visions of the night : 
Now, blooming Anna with her happy swain 
Approach'd the sacred hymeneal fane ; 
Anon, tremendous lightnings flash between 
And funeral pomp and weeping loves are seen : 
Now with Palemon up a rocky steep, 
Whose summit trembles o'er the roaring deep, 
With painful step he climb 'd ; while far above 
Sweet Anna charm'd them with the voice of love : 



52 THE SHIPWRECK. C. I. 

Then sudden from the slippery height they fell, 
While dreadful yawn'd beneath the jaws of hell.— 
Amid this fearful trance a thundering sound 
He hears, and thrice the hollow decks rebound ; 
Upstarting from his couch on deck he sprung, 
Thrice with shrill note the boatswain's whistle rung : 
* All hands unmoor!' proclaims a boisterous cry; 
1 All hands unmoor !' the cavern'd rocks reply : 
Roused from repose aloft the sailors swarm, 
And with their levers soon the windlass arm : 
The order given, upspringing with a bound, 
They fix the bars and heave the windlass round ; 
At every turn the clanging pauls resound : 
Uptorn reluctant from its oozy cave, 
The ponderous anchor rises o'er the wave. 
High on the slippery masts the yards ascend, 
And far abroad the canvass wings extend. 
Along the glassy plain the vessel glides, 
While azure radiance trembles on her sides ; 
The lunar rays in long reflection gleam, 
With silver deluging the fluid stream. 
Levant and Thracian gales alternate play, 
Then in the' Egyptian quarter die away. 
A calm ensues : adjacent shores they dread, 
The boats, with rowers mann'd, are sent ahead ; 



C I. THE SHIPWRECK. 53 

With cordage fasten' d to the lofty prow, 
Aloof to sea the stately ship they tow 3 
The nervous crew their sweeping oars extend, 
And pealing shouts the shore of Candia rend : 
Success attends their skill ! the danger's o'er : 
The port is doubled, and beheld no more. 

Now morn with gradual pace advanced on high, 
Whitening with orient beam the twilight sky : 
She comes not in refulgent pomp array 'd, 
But frowning stern, and wrapt in sullen shade. 
Above incumbent mists tall Ida's height, 
Tremendous rock ! emerges on the sight ; 
Northeast, a league, the isle of Standia bears, 
And westward, Freschin's woody cape appears. 

In distant angles while the transient gales 
Alternate blow, they trim the nagging sails ; 
The drowsy air attentive to retain, 
As from unnumber'd points it sweeps the main. 
Now swelling studsails on each side extend, 
Then staysails sidelong to the breeze ascend : 
While all, to court the veering winds, are placed 
With yards alternate square, and sharply braced. 

The dim horizon lowering vapours shroud, 
And blot the sun yet struggling in the cloud ; 



54 THE SHIPWRECK. C. I. 

Through the wide atmosphere condensed with haze, 

His glaring orb emits a sanguine blaze. 

The pilots now their azimuth attend, 

On which all courses, duly formed, depend : 

The compass placed to catch the rising ray, 

The quadrant's shadows studious they survey ; 

Along the arch the gradual index slides, 

While Phoebus down the vertic circle glides; 

Now seen on ocean's utmost verge to swim, 

He sweeps it vibrant with his nether limb. 

Thus height and polar distance are obtain'd, 

Then latitude and declination gain'd ; 

In chiliads next the' analogy is sought, 

And on the sinical triangle wrought : 

By this magnetic variance is explored, 

Just angles known, and polar truth restored. 

The natives, while the ship departs their land, 
Ashore with admiration gazing stand. 
Majestically slow before the breeze 
She moved triumphant o'er the yielding seas ; 
Her bottom through translucent waters shone, 
White as the clouds beneath the blaze of noon ; 
The bending wales their contrast next display 'd, 
All fore and aft in polish'd jet array'd. 



C. I. THE SHIPWRECK. 55 

Britannia, riding awful on the prow, 
Gazed o'er the vassal waves that roll'd below : 
Where'er she moved the vassal waves were seen 
To yield obsequious, and confess their queen. 
The' imperial trident graced her dexter hand, 
Of power to rule the surge like Moses' wand ; 
The' eternal empire of the main to keep, 
And guide her squadrons o'er the trembling deep. 
Her left, propitious, bore a mystic shield, 
Around whose margin rolls the watery field ; 
There her bold genius in his floating car, 
O'er the wild billow hurls the storm of war : 
And lo ! the beasts that oft with jealous rage 
In bloody combat met, from age to age, 
! Tamed into union, yoked in Friendship's chain, 
Draw his proud chariot round the vanquish' d main i 
From the proud margin to the centre grew 
Shelves, rocks, and whirlpools, hideous to the view. 
The' immortal shield from Neptune she received, 
When first her head above the waters heaved ; 
Loose floated o'er her limbs an azure vest, 
A figured 'scutcheon glitter'd on her breast ; 
There from one parent soil, for ever young, 
The blooming Rose and hardy Thistle sprung. 



56 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



Around her head an oaken wreath was seen, 
Inwove with laurels of unfading green. 

Such was the sculptured prow ; from van to rear 
The' Artillery frown'd, a black tremendous tier ! 
Embalm' d with orient gum, above the wave 
The swelling sides a yellow radiance gave. 
On the broad stern a pencil warm and bold, 
That never servile rules of art control'd, 
An allegoric tale on high portray'd; 
There a young hero, here a royal maid : 
Fair England's genius in the youth express'd, 
Her ancient foe, but now her friend confess'd, 
The warlike nymph with fond regard survey'd ; 
No more his hostile frown her heart dismay'd : 
His look, that once shot terror from afar, 
Like young Alcides, or the god of war, 
Serene as summer's evening skies she saw ; 
Serene, yet firm ; though mild, impressing awe : 
Her nervous arm, inured to toils severe, 
Brandish'd the 5 unconquer'd Caledonian spear : 
The dreadful falchion of the hills she wore, 
Sung to the harp in many a tale of yore, 
That oft her rivers died with hostile gore. 
Blue was her rocky shield ; her piercing eye 
Flash'd like the meteors of her native sky; 



C. I. THE SHIFWRECK. 57 

Her crest, high-plumed, was rough with many a scan 
And o'er her helmet gleam'd the northern star. 
The warrior youth appear'd of noble frame, 
The hardy offspring of some Runic dame : 
Loose o'er his shoulders hung the slacken'd bow, 
Renown'd in song, the terror of the foe ! 
The sword that oft the barbarous North defied, 
The scourge of tyrants ! glitter' d by his side : 
Clad in refulgent arms in battle won, 
The George emblazon'd on his corselet shone ; 
Past by his side was seen a golden lyre, 
Pregnant with numbers of eternal fire ; 
Whose strings unlock the witches' midnight Spell, 
Or waft rapt fancy through the gulfs of hell: 
; Struck with contagion, kindling fancy hears 
The songs of heaven, the music of the spheres ! 
Borne on Newtonian wing through air she flies, 
Where other suns to other systems rise. 

These front the scene conspicuous ; overhead 
Albion's proud oak his filial branches spread: 
While on the seabeat shore obsequious stood 
Beneath their feet the father of the flood : 
Here, the bold native of her cliffs above, 
Perch'd by the martial maid the bird of Jove ; 



58 THE SHIPWRECK. C. I. 

There, on the watch, sagacious of his prey, 
With eyes of fire, an English mastiff lay ; 
Yonder fair Commerce stretch'd her winged sail, 
Here, frown'd the god that wakes the living gale. 
High o'er the poop, the flattering winds unfurl'd 
The' imperial flag that rules the watery world. 
Deep blushing Armours all the tops invest, 
And warlike trophies either quarter dress' d : 
Then tower'd the masts, the canvass swell'd on high. 
And waving streamers floated in the sky. 
Thus the rich vessel moves in trim array, 
Like some fair virgin on her bridal day \ 
Thus,4ike a swan, she cleaved the watery plain, 
The pride and wonder of the' iEgean main. 



END OF THE FIRST CANTO, 



THE 

SHIPWRECK. 



CANTO II. 

THE SCENE LIES AT SEA, BETWEEN CAPE FRESCHIN, IN CAN- 
DIA, AND THE ISLAND OF FALCONERA, WHICH IS NEARLY 
TWELVE LEAGUES NORTHWARD OF CAPE SPADO. 



-FROM NINE IN THE MORNING UNTIL ONE O'CLOCK OF THE 
NEXT DAY AT NOON. 



E 2 



ARGUMENT. 

I. Reflections on leaving shore. II. Favourable Breeze — 

Waterspout — The dying Dolphin — Breeze freshens — Ship's 
rapid Progress along the Coast — Topsails reefed — Gale of 
Wind — Last Appearance, Bearing, and Distance of Cape 
Spado — A Squall — Topsails double reefed — Mainsail split 
— The Ship bears up ; again hauls upon the Wind— Another 

Mainsail bent, and set — Porpoises. III. The Ship driven 

out of her Course from Candia — Heavy Gale— Topsails 
furled— Topgallant Yards lowered — Heavy Sea — Threaten- 
ing Sunset — Difference of Opinion respecting the Mode of 
taking in the Mainsail — Courses reefed — Four Seamen lost 
off the lee Mainyard Arm — Anxiety of the Master and his 

Mates on being near a Lee Shore — Mizen reefed. IV. A 

tremendous sea bursts over the Deck ; its Consequences — 
The Ship labours in great Distress — Guns thrown overboard 
— Dismal Appearance of the Weather — Very high and dan- 
gerous Sea — Storm of Lightning — Severe Fatigue of the 
Crew at the Pumps— Critical Situation of the Ship near the 
Island Falconera — Consultation and Resolution of the Offi- 
cers — Speech and Advice of Albert -, his devout Address to 
Heaven — Order given to scud — The fore Staysail hoisted 
and split — The Head Yards braced aback — The Mizenmast 
cut away. 










He said: Palemon saw "with, grief of Heart, 
The storm prevailing- o'er the Pilot's art ; 
In silent terror and distrefs involved, 
He Heard their last alternative TesoTved-. 



DRAWS BY RICHARD WE STALL, R.A. ENGRAVED BY WILLIAM RADD ON; 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN SHARPE; LONDON. 

JAN. 1,1827. 



# 



THE 

SHIPWRECK. 

CANTO II. 

I. Adieu ! ye pleasures of the silvan scene, 
Where peace and calm contentment dwell serene : 
To me, in vain, on earth's prolific soil, 
With summer crown' d, the Elysian valleys smile ; 
To me those happier scenes no joy impart, 
But tantalize with hope my aching heart : 
Ye tempests ! o'er my head congenial roll, 
To suit the mournful music of my soul ; 
In Mack progression, lo, they hover near, 
Hail, social horrors ! like my fate severe : 
Old ocean, hail ! beneath whose azure zone 
The secret deep lies unexplored, unknown. 
Approach, ye brave companions of the Sea ; 
And fearless view this awful scene with me. 



62 THE SHIPWRECK. C. II. 

Ye native guardians of your country's laws ! 
Ye brave assertors of her sacred cause ! 
The Muse invites you, judge if she depart, 
Unequal, from the thorny rules of art ; 
In practice train'd, and conscious of her power, 
She boldly moves to meet the trying hour : 
Her voice attempting themes, before unknown 
To music, sings distresses all her own. 

II. O'er the smooth bosom of the faithless tides, 
Propell'd by flattering gales, the vessel glides : 
Rodmond exulting felt the' auspicious wind, 
And by a mystic charm its aim confined. 
The thoughts of home, that o'er his fancy roll, 
With trembling joy dilate Palemon's soul ; 
Hope lifts his heart, before w r hose vivid ray 
Distress recedes, and danger melts away. 
Tall Ida's summit now more distant grew, 
And Jove's high hill was rising to the view : 
When on the larboard quarter they descry 
A liquid column, towering shoot on high ; 
The foaming base the angry whirlwinds sweep, 
Where curling billows rouse the fearful deep : 
Still round and round the fluid vortex flies, 
Diffusing briny vapours o'er the skies. 



C. II. THE SHIPWRECK. 63 

This vast phenomenon, whose lofty head 
*In Heaven immersed, embracing clouds o'erspread, 
In spiral motion first, as seamen deem, 
Swells, w T hen the raging whirlwind sweeps the stream. 
The swift volution, and the' enormous train, 
Let sages versed in Nature's lore explain — 
The horrid apparition still draw 7 s nigh, 
And white with foam the whirling billow T s fly. 
The guns were primed; the vessel northward veers. 
Till her black battery on the column bears : 
The nitre fired : and, while the dreadful sound 
Convulsive shook the slumbering air around, 
The w r atery volume, trembling to the sky, 
Burst down a dreadful deluge from on high ! 
The' expanding ocean trembled as it fell, 
And felt with swift recoil her surges swell \ 
But soon, this transient undulation o'er, 
The sea subsides, the whirlwinds rage no more. 
While southward now the' increasing breezes veer, 
Dark clouds incumbent on their wings appear : 
Ahead they see the consecrated grove 
Of Cyprus, sacred once to Cretan Jove. 
The ship beneath her lofty pressure reels, 
And to the freshening gale still deeper heels. 



64 THE SHIPWRECK. C. II. 

But now, beneath the lofty vessel's stern, 
A shoal of sportive dolphins they discern 
Beaming from burnish' d scales refulgent-rays, 
Till all the glowing ocean seems to blaze : 
In curling wreaths they wanton on the tide, 
Now bound aloft, now downward swiftly glide ; 
Awhile beneath the waves their tracks remain, 
And burn in silver streams along the liquid plain. 
Soon to the sport of death the crew repair, 
Dart the long lance, or spread the baited snare. 
One in redoubling mazes wheels along, 
And glides unhappy near the triple prong : 
Rodmond, unerring, o'er his head suspends 
The barbed steel, and every turn attends ; 
Unerring aim'd, the missile weapon Hew, 
And, plunging, struck the fated victim through ; 
The' upturning points his ponderous bulk sustain, 
On deck he struggles with convulsive pain : 
But while his heart the fatal javelin thrills, 
And flitting life escapes in sanguine rills, 
What radiant changes strike the' astonish'd sight! 
What glowing hues of mingled shade and light ! 
Not equal beauties gild the lucid west 
With parting beams all o'er profusely dress'd, 



C II. THE SHIPWRECK. 6-> 

Not lovelier colours paint the vernal dawn, 
When orient dews impearl the' enamel'd lawn, 
Than from his sides in bright suffusion now, 
That now with gold empyreal seem to glow ; 
Now in pellucid sapphires meet the view, 
And emulate the soft celestial hue ; 
Now beam a naming crimson on the eye, 
And now assume the purple's deeper dye : 
But here description clouds each shining ray ; 
What terms of art can Nature's powers display 1 
The lighter sails, for summer winds and seas, 
Are now dismiss' d, the straining masts to ease ; 
Swift on the deck the studsails all descend, 
Which ready seamen from the yards unbend ; 
The boats then hoisted in are fix'd on board, 
i And on the deck with fastening gripes secured, 
The watchful ruler of the helm no more 
With fix'd attention eyes the' adjacent shore, 
But, by the oracle of truth below, 
The wondrous magnet guides the wayward prow. 
The powerful sails, with steady breezes swell'd, 
Swift and more swift the yielding bark impell'd: 
i\.cross her stem the parting waters run, 
As clouds, by tempests wafted, pass the sun. 



66 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



Impatient thus she darts along the shore, 

Till Ida's mount and Jove's are seen no more ; 

And while aloof from Retimo she steers, 

Malacha's foreland full in front appears. 

Wide o'er yon Isthmus stands the cypress grove, 

That once enclosed the hallow'd fane of Jove ; 

Here too, memorial of his name ! is found 

A tomb in marble ruins on the ground : 

This gloomy tyrant, whose despotic sw 7 ay 

Compell'd the trembling nations to obey, 

Through Greece for murder, rape, and incest known, 

The Muses raised to high Olympus' throne ; 

For oft, alas ! their venal strains adorn 

The prince whom blushing virtue holds in scorn : 

Still Rome and Greece record his endless fame, 

And hence yon mountain yet retains his name. 

But see ! in confluence borne before the blast, 
Clouds roll'd on clouds the dusky noon o'ercast : 
The blackening ocean curls, the winds arise, 
And the dark scud in swift succession flies. 
While the swoln canvass bends the masts on high, 
Low in the wave the leeward cannon lie. 
The master calls, to give the ship relief, 
* The topsails lower, and form a single reef!' 



C. II. THE SHIPWRECK. 67 

Each lofty yard with slacken'd cordage reels ; 
Rattle the creaking blocks and ringing wheels. 
Down the tall masts the topsails sink amain, 
Are mann'd and reef d, then hoisted up again. 
More distant grew receding Candia's shore, 
And southward of the west Cape Spado bore. 

Four hours the sun his high meridian throne 
Had left, and o'er the' Atlantic regions shone , 
Still blacker clouds, that all the skies invade, 
Draw o'er his sullied orb a dismal shade : 
A lowering squall obscures the southern sky, 
Before whose sweeping breath the waters fly } 
Its weight the topsails can no more sustain — 
' Reef topsails, reef!' the master calls again. 
The halyards and top bowlines soon are gone,. 
The cluelines and reeftackles next they run : 
The shivering sails descend; the yards are square; 
Then quick aloft the ready crew repair : 
The weatherearings and the lee they pass'd, 
The reefs enroll'd, and every point made fast. 
The task above thus finish' d, they descend, 
And vigilant the' approaching squall attend : 
It comes resistless ! and with foaming sweep 
Upturns the whitening surface of the deep : 



68 THE SHIPWRECK. C. 

In such a tempest, borne to deeds of death, 
The wayward sisters scour the blasted heath. 
The clouds, with ruin pregnant, now impend, 
And storm and cataracts tumultuous blend. 
Deep, on her side, the reeling vessel lies : 
c Brail up the mizen quick!' the master cries, 
' Man the cluegarnets ! let the mainsheet fly !' 
It rends in thousand shivering shreds on high ! 
The mainsail all in streaming ruins tore. 
Loud fluttering, imitates the thunder's roar : 
The ship still labours in the' oppressive strain, 
Low bending, as if ne'er to rise again. 
' Bear up the helm aweather !' Rodmond cries : 
Swift at the word the helm aweather flies ; 
She feels its guiding power, and veers apace, 
And now the foresail right athwart they brace : 
With equal sheets restrain'd, the bellying sail 
Spreads a broad concave to the sweeping gale. 
While o'er the foam the ship impetuous flies, 
The helm the' attentive timoneer applies : 
As in pursuit along the aerial way 
"With ardent eye the falcon marks his prey, 
Each motion watches of the doubtful chase, 
Obliquely wheeling through the fluid space ; 



C. II. THE SHIPWRECK. 69 

So, govern'd by the steersman's glowing hands, 
The regent helm her motion still commands. 

But now, the transient squall to leeward pass'd, 
Again she rallies to the sullen blast : 
The helm to starboard moves ; each shivering sail 
Is sharply trimm'd to clasp the' augmenting gale— 
The mizen draws ; she springs aloof once more, 
While the fore staysail balances before. 
The foresail braced obliquely to the w T ind, 
They near the prow the' extended tack confined; 
Then on the leeward sheet the seamen bend, 
And haul the bowline to the bowsprit end : 
To topsails next they haste : the buntlines gone ! 
Through rattling blocks the cluelines swiftly run ; 
The' extending sheets on either side are mann'd ; 
Abroad they come, the fluttering sails expand; 
The yards again ascend each comrade mast, 
The leeches taught, the halyards are made fast, 
The bowlines haul'd, and yards to starboard braced, 
And straggling ropes in pendent order placed. 

The mainsail, by the squall so lately rent, 
In streaming pendants flying, is unbent : 
With brails refix'd, another soon prepared, 
Ascending, spreads along beneath the yard. 



70 THE SHIPWRECK. C. 11. 

To each yardarm the head-rope they extend, 
And soon their earings and their robans bend. 
That task perform'd, they first the braces slack, 
Then to the chesstree drag the' unwilling tack. 
And, while the lee cluegarnet's lower'd away, 
Taught aft the sheet they tally, and belay. 

Now to the north, from Afric's burning shore, 
A troop of porpoises their course explore ; 
In curling wreaths they gambol on the tide, 
Now bound aloft, now down the billow glide : 
Their tracks awhile the hoary waves retain, 
That burn in sparkling trails along the main — 
These fleetest coursers of the finny race, 
When threatening clouds the' etherial vault deface, 
Their route to leeward still sagacious form, 
To shun the fury of the' approaching storm. 

III. Fair Candia now no more beneath her lee 
Protects the vessel from the' insulting sea ; 
Round her broad arms impatient of control, 
Housed from the secret deep, the billows roll : 
Sunk were the bulwarks of the friendly shore, 
And all the scene a hostile aspect wore. 
The flattering wind, that late with promised aid 
From Candia's bay the' unwilling ship betray 'd, 



C II. THE SHIPWRECK. 71 

No longer fawns beneath the fair disguise, 
But like a ruffian on his quarry flies : 
Toss'd on the tide she feels the tempest blow, 
And dreads the vengeance of so fell a foe — 
As the proud horse with costly trappings gay, 
Exulting, prances to the bloody fray ; 
Spurning the ground, he glories in his might, 
But reels tumultuous in the shock of fight: 
E'en so, caparison'd in gaudy pride, 
The bounding vessel dances on the tide. 

Fierce and more fierce the gathering tempest grew, 
South, and by west, the threatening demon blew ; 
j Auster's resistless force all air invades, 
And every rolling wave more ample spreads : 
The ship no longer can her topsails bear ; 
No hopes of milder weather now appear. 
Bowlines and halyards are cast off again, 
Cluelines haul'd down, and sheets let fly amain : 
Embrail'd each topsail, and by braces squared, 
The seamen climb aloft, and man each yard ; 
They furl'd the sails, and pointed to the wind 
The yards, by rolling tackles then confined, 
While o'er the ship the gallant boatswain flies ; 
Like a hoarse mastiff through the storm he cries, 



27 THE SHIPWRECK. C. II. 

Prompt to direct the' unskilful still appears, 
The' expert he praises, and the timid cheers. 
]\ T ow some, to strike topgallant yards attend, 
Some, travellers up the weather backstays send, 
At each masthead the top-ropes others bend : 
The parrels, lifts, and cluelines soon are gone, 
Topp'd and unrigg'd, they down the backstays run • 
The yards secure along the booms were laid, 
And all the flying ropes aloft belay'd : 
Their sails reduced, and all the rigging clear, 
Awhile the crew relax from toils severe ; 
Awhile their spirits, with fatigue oppress'd. 
In vain expect the' alternate hour of rest — 
But with redoubling force the tempests blow, 
And watery hills in dread succession flow, 
A dismal shade o'ercast the frowning skies, 
New troubles grow ; fresh difficulties rise ; 
No season this from duty to descend, 
' All hands on deck' must now the storm atterid. 

His race perform'd, the sacred lamp of day 
Now dipp'd in western clouds his parting ray : 
His languid fires, half lost in ambient haze, 
Refract along the dusk a crimson blaze ; 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



Till deep immerged the sickening orb descends, 

And cheerless night o'er heaven her reign extends: 

Sad evening's hour, how different from the past ! 

No naming pomp, no blushing glories cast, 

No ray of friendly light is seen around ; 

The moon and stars in hopeless shade are drown'd. 

The ship no longer can whole courses bear, 
To reef them now becomes the master's care ; 
The sailors, summoned aft, all ready stand, 
And man the' enfolding brails at his command : 
But here the doubtful officers dispute, 
Till skill and judgment prejudice confute : 
For Rodmond, to new methods still a foe, 
Would first, at all events, the sheet let go ; 
To long tried practice obstinately warm, 
He doubts conviction, and relies on form, 
This Albert and Arion disapprove, 
And first to brail the tack up firmly move : 
' The watchful seaman, whose sagacious eye 
On sure experience may with truth rely, 
Who from the reigning cause foretells the' effect, 
This barbarous practice ever will reject : 
For, fluttering loose in air, the rigid sail 
Soon flits to ruins in the furious gale ; 

F 



74 THE SHIPWRECK. I 

And he, who strives the tempest to disarm, 
Will never first embrail the lee yardarm.' 
So Albert spoke ; to windward, at his call, 
Some seamen the cluegarnet stand to haul — 
The tack's eased off, while the involving clue 
Between the pendent blocks ascending flew ; 
The sheet and weather brace they now stand by, 
The lee cluegarnet and the buntlines ply ; 
Then, all prepared, f Let go the sheet !' he cries — 
Loud rattling, jarring, through the blocks it flies ! 
Shivering at first, till by the blast impelFd, 
High o'er the lee yardarm the canvass swell'd ; 
By spilling lines embraced, with brails confined, 
It lies at length unshaken by the wind. 
The foresail then secured with equal care, 
Again to reef the mainsail they repair ; 
While some above the yard o'erhaul the tye, 
Below, the downhaul tackle others ply ; 
Jears, lifts, and brails a seaman each attends, 
And down the mast its mighty yard descends : 
When lower' d sufficient they securely brace, 
And fix the rollingtackle in its place ; 
The reeflines and their earings now prepared, 
Mounting on pliant shrouds they man the yard : 



G. II. THE SHIPWRECK. 75 

Far on the' extremes appear two able hands, 

For no inferior skill this task demands. 

To windward, foremost, young Arion strides, 

The lee yardarm the gallant boatswain rides : 

Each earing to its cringle first they bend, 

The reef band then along the yard extend ; 

The circling earing round the' extremes entwined, 

By outer and by inner turns they bind ; 

The reeflines next, from hand to hand received, 

Through eyeletholes and roban legs were reeved ; 

The folding reefs in plaits inroll'd they lay, 

Extend the worming lines, and ends belay. 

Hadst thou, Arion ! held the leeward post 
While on the yard by mountain billows toss'd, 
Perhaps Oblivion o'er our tragic tale 
Had then for ever drawn her dusky veil ; 
But ruling Heaven prolong' d thy vital date, 

K e ?verer ills to suffer and relate. 
For, while aloft the order those attend 
d furl the mainsail, or on deck descend, 
A sea, upsurging with stupendous roll, 
To instant ruin seems to doom the whole ; 
* O, friends, secure your hold !' Arion cries — 
It comes all dreadful ! down the vessel lies 

t2 



76 THE SHIPWRECK. C. II. 

Half buried sideways ; while, beneath it toss'd, 
Four seamen off the lee yardarm are lost : 
Torn with resistless fury from their hold, 
In vain their struggling arms the yard enfold; 
In vain to grapple flying ropes they try, 
The ropes, alas ! a solid gripe deny : 
Prone on the midnight surge with panting breath 
They cry for aid, and long contend with Death ; 
High o'er their heads the rolling billows sweep, 
And down they sink in everlasting sleep. 
Bereft of power to help, their comrades see 
The wretched victims die beneath the lee, 
With fruitless sorrow their lost state bemoan, 
Perhaps a fatal prelude to their own. 

In dark suspense on deck the pilots stand, 
Nor can determine on the next command : 
Though still they knew the vessel's armed side 
Impenetrable to the clasping tide ; 
Though still the waters by no secret wound 
A passage to her deep recesses found ; 
Surrounding evils yet they ponder o'er, 
A storm, a dangerous sea, and leeward shore ! 
' Should they, though reef d, again their sails extend, 
Again in shivering streamers they may rend ; 



C. II. THE SHIPWRECK. 77 

Or should they stand, beneath the' oppressive strain 

The downpress'd ship may never rise again ; 

Too late to weather now Morea's land, 

And drifting fast on Athens' rocky strand.' 

Thus they lament the consequence severe, 

Where perils unallay'd by Hope appear ; 

Long pondering in their minds each fear'd event, 

At last to furl the courses they consent ; 

That done, to reef the mizen next agree, 

And try beneath it sidelong in the sea. 

Now down the mast the yard they lower away, 
Then jears and topinglift secure belay ; 
The head, with doubling canvass fenced around, 
In balance near the lofty peak they bound : 
! The reef enwrapp'd, the inserted knittles tied, 
The halyards throt and peak are next applied — 
The order given, the yard aloft they sway'd, 
The brails relax'd, the' extended sheet belay'd ; 
The helm its post forsook, and, lash'd alee, 
Inclined the wayward prow to front the sea. 

IV. When sacred Orpheus, on the Stygian coast, 
With notes divine deplored his consort lost ; 
Though round him perils grew in fell array, 
And fates and furies stood to bar his way; 



78 THE SHTPWRtCK. C. II. 

Not more adventurous was the' attempt, to move 

The' infernal powers with strains of heavenly love, 

Than mine, in ornamental verse to dress 

The harshest sounds that terms of art express : 

Such arduous toil sage Daedalus endured, 

In mazes, self-invented, long immured, 

Till genius her superior aid bestow'd, 

To guide him through that intricate abode — 

Thus, long imprison'd in a rugged way 

Where Phoebus' daughters never aim'd to stray, 

The Muse, that tuned to barbarous sounds her string* 

Now spreads, like Daedalus, a bolder wing; 

The verse begins in softer strains to flow, 

Replete with sad variety of woe. 

As yet, amid this elemental war, 
Where Desolation in his gloomy car 
Triumphant rages round the starless void, 
And Fate on every billow seems to ride ; 
Nor toil, nor hazard, nor distress appear 
To sink the seamen with unmanly fear ; 
Though their firm hearts no pageant honour boast, 
They scorn the wretch that trembles at his post ; 
Who from the face of danger strives to turn, 
Indignant from the social hour they spurn ; 



C. II. THE SHIPWRECK. 79 

Though now full oft they felt the raging tide 
In proud rebellion climb the vessel's side ; 
Though every rising w r ave more dreadful grows, 
And in succession dire the deck o'erflow T s ; 
No future ills unknowm their souls appall, 
They know no danger, or they scorn it all : 
But e'en the generous spirits of the brave, 
Subdued by toil, a friendly respite crave ; 
They, with severe fatigue alone oppress' d, 
Would fain indulge an interval of rest. 

Far other cares the Master's mind employ, 
Approaching perils all Iris hopes destroy : 
In vain he spreads the graduated chart, 
And bounds the distance by the rules of art; 
Across the geometric plane expands 
The compasses to circumjacent lands ; 
Ungrateful task ! for, no asylum found, 
Death yawns on every leeward shore around. — 
While Albert thus, with horrid doubts dismay' d, 
The geometric distances survey'd, 
On deck the watchful Rodmond cries aloud, 
- Secure your lives ; grasp every man a shroud V — 
Roused from his trance, he mounts w T ith eyes aghast ; 
When o'er the ship, in undulation vast* 



80 THE SHIPWRECK. C. II. 

A giant surge down rushes from on high, 
And fore and aft dissever'd ruins lie : 
As when, Britannia's empire to maintain, 
Great Hawke descends in thunder on the main, 
Around the brazen voice of battle roars, 
And fatal lightnings blast the hostile shores ; 
Beneath the storm their shattered navies groan ; 
The trembling deep recoils from zone to zone — 
Thus the torn vessel felt the' enormous stroke, 
The boats beneath the thundering deluge broke ; 
Torn from their planks the cracking ringbolts drew, 
And gripes and lashings all asunder flew ; 
Companion, binacle, in floating wreck, 
With compasses and glasses strew' d the deck ; 
The balanced mizen, rending to the head, 
In fluttering fragments from its boltrope fled ; 
The sides convulsive shook on groaning beams, 
And, rent with labour, yawnM their pitchy seams. 

They sound the well, and, terrible to hear ! 
Five feet immersed along the line appear : 
At either pump they ply the clanking brake, 
And, turn by turn, the ungrateful office take : 
Rodmond, Arion, and Palemon here 
At this sad task all diligent appear — 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



81 



As some strong citadel begirt with foes 

Tries long the tide of ruin to oppose, 

Destruction near her spreads his black array, 

And Death and Sorrow mark his horrid way : 

Till, in some destined hour, against her wall 

In tenfold rage the fatal thunders fall ; 

It breaks ! it bursts before the cannonade ! 

And following hosts the shatter' d domes invade : 

Her inmates long repel the hostile flood, 

And shield their sacred charge in streams of blood ; 

So the brave mariners their pumps attend, 

And help incessant, by rotation, lend ; 

But all in vain ! for now the sounding cord, 

Updrawn, an undiminish'd depth explored. 

Nor this severe distress is found alone, 

The ribs oppress' d by ponderous cannon groan ; 

Deep rolling from the watery volume's height, 

The tortured sides seem bursting with their w T eight — 

So reels Pelorus with convulsive throes, 

When in his veins the burning earthquake glows ; 

Hoarse through his entrails roars the' infernal flame. 

And central thunders rend his groaning frame — 

Accumulated mischiefs thus arise, 

And Fate, vindictive, all their skill defies : 



82 THE SHIPWRECK. C. II. 

For this, one remedy is only known, 
From the torn ship her metal must be thrown ; 
Eventful task ! which last distress requires, 
And dread of instant death alone inspires ; 
For, while intent the yawning decks to ease, 
Fiird ever and anon with rushing seas, 
Some fatal billow with recoiling sweep 
May whirl the helpless wretches in the deep. 

No season this for counsel or delay; 
Too soon the' eventful moments haste away ! 
Here Perseverance, with each help of Art, 
Must join the boldest efforts of the heart ; 
These only now their misery can relieve, 
These only now a dawn of safety give. 
While o'er the quivering deck from van to rear 
Broad surges roll in terrible career, 
Kodmond, Arion, and a chosen crew 
This office in the face of death pursue ; 
The wheel' d artillery o'er the deck to guide, 
Rodmond descending claim' d the weather side ; 
Fearless of heart, the Chief his orders gave, 
Fronting the rude assaults of every wave — 
Like some strong watchtower nodding o'er the deep, 
Whose rocky base the foaming waters sweep, 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



Untamed he stood ; the stern aerial war 
Had mark'd his honest face with many a scar ; 
Meanwhile Arion, traversing the waist, 
The cordage of the leeward guns unbraced, 
And pointed crows beneath the metal placed. 
Watching the roll, their forelocks they withdrew, 
And from their beds the reeling cannon threw ; 
Then, from the windward battlements unbound, 
Rodmond's associates wheel'd the' artillery round, 
Pointed with iron fangs, their bars beguile 
The ponderous arms across the steep defile ; 
Then, hurl'd from sounding hinges o'er the side, 
Thundering they plunge into the flashing tide. 

The ship, thus eased, some little respite finds 
In this rude conflict of the seas and winds — 
Such ease Aicides felt, when, clogg'd with gore, 
The' envenom'd mantle from his side he tore ; 
When, stung with burning pain, he strove too late 
To stop the swift career of cruel Fate ; 
Yet then his heart one ray of hope procured, 
Sad harbinger of sevenfold pangs endured— 
Such and so short the pause of woe she found ! 
Cimmerian darkness shades the deep around, 



84 THE SHIPWRECK. C. II. 

Save when the lightnings in terrific blaze 
Deluge the cheerless gloom with horrid rays ; 
Above, all ether fraught with scenes of woe, 
With grim destruction threatens all below : 
Beneath, the storm-lash'd surges furious rise, 
And wave uproll'd on wave assails the skies ; 
With ever floating bulwarks they surround 
The ship, half swallow'd in the black profound. 
With ceaseless hazard and fatigue oppress'd, 
Dismay and anguish every heart possess'd ; 
For while, with sweeping inundation, o'er 
The seabeat ship the booming waters roar, 
Displaced beneath by her capacious womb, 
They rage their ancient station to resume ; 
By secret ambushes, their force to prove, 
Through many a winding channel first they rove ; 
Till gathering fury, like the fever'd blood, 
Through her dark veins they roll a rapid flood : 
When unrelenting thus the leaks they found, 
The clattering pumps with clanking strokes resound; 
Around each leaping valve, by toil subdued, 
The tough bull hide must ever be renew'd : 
Their sinking hearts unusual horrors chill, 
And down their weary limbs thick dews distil ; 



C. II. THE SHIPWRECK. 85 

No ray of light their dying hope redeems, 
Pregnant with some new woe, each moment teems. 

Again the chief the' instructive chart extends, 
And o'er the figured plane attentive bends ; 
To him the motion of each orb was known, 
That wheels around the sun's refulgent throne ; 
But here, alas ! his science nought avails, 
Skill droops unequal, and experience fails ; 
The different traverses, since twilight made, 
He on the hydrographic circle laid; 
Then, in the graduated arch contain'd, 
The angle of leeway, seven points remained. — 
Her place discover' d by the rules of art, 
Unusual terrors shook the master's heart, 
When, on the' immediate line of drift, he found 
| The rugged isle, with rocks and breakers bound, 
Of Falconera ; distant only now 
Nine lessening leagues beneath the leeward bow; 
For, if on those destructive shallows toss'd, 
The helpless bark with all her crew are lost; 
As fatal still appears, that danger o'er, 
i The steep St. George, and rocky Gardalor. 
With him the pilots, of their hopeless state, 
j In mournful consultation, long debate — 



86 THE SHIFWRECK. C. II, 

JNTot more perplexing doubts her chiefs appall 
When some proud city verges to her fall, 
While ruin glares around, and pale affright 
Convenes her councils in the dead of night. 
No blazon'd trophies o'er their concave spread, 
Nor storied pillars raised aloft their head : 
But here the queen of shade around them threw 
Her dragon wing, disastrous to the view ! 
Dire was the scene with whirlwind, hail, and shower ; 
Black Melancholy ruled the fearful hour : 
Beneath, tremendous roll'd the flashing tide, 
Where Fate on every billow seem'd to ride — 
Enclosed with ills, by peril unsubdued, 
Great in distress the master seaman stood ! 
Skill'd to command ; deliberate to advise ; 
Expert in action 5 and in council wise — 
Thus to his partners, by the crew unheard, 
The dictates of his soul the chief referr'd : 

' Ye faithful mates ! who all my troubles share, 
Approved companions of your master's care ! 
To you, alas ! 'twere fruitless now to tell 
Our sad distress, already known too well : 
This morn with favouring gales the port we left, 
Though now of every flattering hope bereft : 



C, II. THE SHIPWRECK. C 

jSTo skill, nor long experience could forecast 
The' unseen approach of this destructive blast ; 
These seas, where storms at Tarious seasons blow, 
~No reigning winds nor certain omens know : 
The hour, the' occasion all your skill demands, 
A leaky ship embay'd by dangerous lands ! 
Our bark no transient jeopardy surrounds, 
Groaning she lies beneath unnumber'd wounds : 
'Tis ours the doubtful remedy to find, 
To shun the fury of the seas and wind ; 
For in this hollow swell, with labour sore, 
Her flank can bear the bursting floods no more. 
Only one shift, though desperate, we must try, 
And that, before the boisterous storm to fly : 
Then less her sides will feel the surges' power, 
Which thus may soon the foundering hull devour. 
'Tis true, the vessel and her costly freight, 
To me consign'd, my orders only wait ; 
Yet, since the charge of every life is mine, 
To equal votes our counsels I resign — 
Forbid it, Heaven ! that in this dreadful hour 
I claim the dangerous reins of purblind power ! 
But should we now resolve to bear away, 
Our hopeless state can suffer no delay : 



88 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



Nor can we, thus bereft of every sail, 
Attempt to steer obliquely on the gale : 
For then, if broaching sideway to the sea, 
Our dropsied ship may founder by the lee ; 
Vain all endeavours then to bear away, 
Nor helm nor pilot would she more obey.' 

He said : the listening mates, with fix'd regard 
And silent reverence, his opinion heard ; 
Important was the question in debate, 
And o'er their counsels hung impending fate : 
Rodmond, in many a scene of peril tried, 
Had oft the master's happier skill descried, 
Yet now, the hour, the scene, the occasion known, 
Perhaps with equal right preferr'd his own ; 
Of long experience in the naval art, 
Blunt was his speech, and naked was his heart ; 
Alike to him each climate and each blast, 
The first in danger, in retreat the last : 
Sagacious, balancing the' opposed events, 
From Albert his opinion thus dissents. — 

' Too true the perils of the present hour, 
Where toils succeeding toils our strength o'erpower 
Our bark, 'tis true, no shelter here can find, 
Sore shatter'd by the ruffian seas and wind : 



C. II. THE SHIPWRECK. 89 

Yet where with safety can we dare to scud 
Before this tempest, and pursuing flood 1 
At random driven, to present death we haste, 
And one short hour perhaps may be our last : 
Though Corinth's gulf extend along the lee, 
To whose safe ports appears a passage free, 
Yet think ! this furious unremitting gale 
Deprives the ship of every ruling sail ; 
And if before it she directly flies, 
New ills enclose us, and new dangers rise : 
Here Falconera spreads her lurking snares, 
There distant Greece her rugged shelves prepares; 
Our hull, if once it strikes that iron coast, 
Asunder bursts, in instant ruin lost ; 
I Nor she alone, but with her all the crew, 
Beyond relief, are doom'd to perish too : 
Such mischiefs follow, if we bear away ; 
O, safer that sad refuge — to delay ! 

f Then of our purpose this appears the scope, 
To weigh the danger with the doubtful hope : 
Though sorely buffeted by every sea, 
Our hull unbroken long may try alee; 
The crew, though harass'd much with toils severe, 
Still at their pumps, perceive no hazards near : 



90 THE SHIPWRECK. C. II. 

Shall we, incautious, then the danger tell, 

At once their courage and their hope to quell ? 

Prudence forbids ! this southern tempest soon 

May change its quarter with the changing moon ; 

Its rage, though terrible, may soon subside, 

Nor into mountains lash the' unruly tide : 

These leaks shall then decrease — the sails once more 

Direct their course to some relieving shore.' 

Thus while he spoke, around from man to man 
At either pump a hollow murmur ran : 
For, while the vessel through unnumber'd chinks, 
Above, below, the' invading water drinks, 
Sounding her depth they eyed the wetted scale, 
And lo ! the leaks o'er all their powers prevail : 
Yet at their post, by terrors unsubdued, 
They with redoubling force their task pursued. 

And now the senior pilots seem'd to wait 
Arion's voice, to close the dark debate : 
Not o'er his vernal life the ripening sun 
Had yet, progressive, twice ten summers run ; 
Slow to debate, yet eager to excel, 
In thy sad school, stern Neptune ! taught too well : 
With lasting pain to rend his youthful heart 
Dire Fate in venom dipp'd her keenest dart ; 



C. II. THE SHIPWRECK. 9i 

Till his firm spirit, temper' d long to ill, 
Forgot her persecuting scourge to feel : 
But now the horrors that around him roll 
Thus roused to action his rekindling soul : 

1 Can we, delay'd in this tremendous tide, 
A moment pause what purpose to decide 1 
Alas ! from circling horrors thus combined, 
One method of relief alone we find : 
Thus water-logg'd, thus helpless to remain 
Amid this hollow, how ill judged ! how vain ! 
Our seabreach'd vessel can no longer bear 
The floods that o'er her burst in dread career ; 
The labouring hull already seems half fill'd 
With water through a hundred leaks distill'd; 
Thus drench 1 d by every wave, her riven deck 
Stripp'd and defenceless, floats a naked wreck ; 
At every pitch the' o'erwhelming billows bend 
Beneath their load the quivering bowsprit's end ; 
A fearful warning ! since the masts on high 
On that support with trembling hope rely ; 
At either pump our seamen pant for breath, 
In dire dismay, anticipating death ; 
Still all our powers the' increasing leaks defy, 
We sink at sea, no shore, no haven nigh : 

g2 



92 THE SHIPWRECK. C. II. 

One dawn of hope yet breaks athwart the gloom 
To light and save us from a watery tomb ; 
That bids us shun the death impending here, 
Fly from the following blast, and shoreward steer. 

* 'Tis urged indeed, the fury of the gale 
Precludes the help of every guiding sail; 
And, driven before it on the watery waste, 
To rocky shores and scenes of death we haste ; 
But haply Falconera we may shun, 
And long to Grecian coasts is yet the run : 
Less harass' d then, our scudding ship may bear 
The' assaulting surge repell'd upon her rear, 
And since as soon that tempest may decay, 
When steering shoreward — wherefore thus delay ? 
Should we at last be driven by dire decree 
Too near the fatal margin of the sea, 
The hull dismasted there awhile may ride, 
With lengthen'd cables on the raging tide ; 
Perhaps kind Heaven, with interposing power, 
May curb the tempest ere that dreadful hour ; 
But here, ingulf'd and foundering, while we stay, 
Fate hovers o'er, and marks us for her prey.' 

He said : Palemon saw with grief of heart, 
The storm prevailing o'er the pilot's art ; 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



93 



In silent terror and distress involved, 

He heard their last alternative resolved : 

High heat his bosom — with such fear subdued, 

Beneath the gloom of some enchanted wood, 

Oft in old time the wandering swain explored 

The midnight wizards, breathing rites abhorr'd ; 

Trembling, approach' d their incantations fell, 

And, chill'd with horror, heard the songs of hell. 

Arion saw, with secret anguish moved, 

The deep affliction of the friend he loved, 

And, ail awake to Friendship's genial heat, 

His bosom felt consenting tremors beat ! 

Alas ! no season this for tender love, 

Far hence the music of the myrtle grove — 

He tried with soft persuasion's melting lore 

Palemon's fainting courage to restore; 

His wounded spirit heal'd with friendship's balm, 

And bade each conflict of the mind be calm. 

Now had the pilots all the' events revolved, 
And on their final refuge thus resolved — 
When, like the faithful shepherd who beholds 
Some prowling wolf approach his fleecy folds, 
To the brave crew, w r hom racking doubts perplex, 
The dreadful purpose xllbert thus directs : 



94 THE SHIPWRECK. C 

i Unhappy partners in a wayward fate ! 
Whose courage now is known perhaps too late ; 
Ye ! who unmoved behold this angry storm 
In conflict all the rolling deep deform ; 
Who, patient in adversity, still bear 
The firmest front when greatest ills are near ; 
The truth, though painful, T must now reveal, 
That long in vain I purposed to conceal : 
Ingulf d, all help of art we vainly try, 
To weather leeward shores, alas ! too nigh : 
Our crazy bark no longer can abide 
The seas, that thunder o'er her batter'd side ; 
And, while the leaks a fatal warning give 
That in this raging sea she cannot live, 
One only refuge from despair we find — 
At once to wear and scud before the wind : 
Perhaps e'en then to ruin we may steer, 
For rocky shores beneath our lee appear ; 
But that's remote, and instant death is here : 
Yet there, by Heaven's assistance, w r e may gain 
Some creek or inlet of the Grecian main ; 
Or, shelter' d by some rock, at anchor ride 
Till with abating rage the blast subside : 



C II. THE SIIIPWIUXK. 95 

But if, determined by the will of Heaven, 
Our helpless bark at last ashore is driven, 
These counsels follow'd, from a watery grave 
Our crew perhaps amid the surf may save : — 

' And first, let all our axes be secured, 
To cut the masts and rigging from aboard ; 
Then to the quarters bind each plank and oar 
To float between the vessel and the shore : 
The longest cordage too must be convey'd 
On deck, and to the weather rails belay'd : 
So they, who haply reach alive the land, 
The' extended lines may fasten on the strand, 
Whene'er, loud thundering on the leeward shore, , 
While yet aloof we hear the breakers roar : 
Thus for the terrible event prepared, 
Brace fore and aft to starboard every yard ; 
So shall our masts swim lighter on the wave, 
And from the broken rocks our seamen save ; 
Then westward turn the stern, that every mast 
May shoreward fall as from the vessel cast. 
When o'er her side once more the billows bound, 
Ascend the rigging till she strikes the ground ; 
And when you hear aloft the dreadful shock 
That strikes her bottom on some pointed rock, 



96 THE SHIPWRECK. C. II 

The boldest of our sailors must descend 

The dangerous business of the deck to tend : 

Then burst the hatches off, and every stay 

And every fastening laniard cut away ; 

Planks, gratings, booms, and rafts to leeward cast, 

Then with redoubled strokes attack each mast, 

That buoyant lumber may sustain you o'er 

The rocky shelves and ledges to the shore : 

But as your firmest succour, till the last, 

O, cling securely on each faithful mast ! 

Though great the danger, and the task severe, 

Yet bow not to the tyranny of fear ; 

If once that slavish yoke your souls subdue, 

Adieu to hope ! to life itself adieu ! 

u I know among you some have oft beheld 
A bloodhound train, by rapine's lust impell'd, 
On England's cruel coast impatient stand, 
To rob the wanderers wreck'd upon their strand : 
These, while their savage office they pursue, 
Oft wound to death the helpless plunder' d crew, 
Who, scaped from every horror of the main, 
Implored their mercy, but implored in vain : 
Yet dread not this, a crime to Greece unknown, 
Such bloodhounds all her circling shores disown ; 



C. II. THE SHIPWRECK. 97 

Who, though by barbarous tyranny oppress' d, 
Can share affliction with the wretch distress'd : 
Their hearts, by cruel fate inured to grief, 
Oft to the friendless stranger yield relief. 5 ' 

With conscious horror struck, the naval band 
Detested for a while their native land ; 
Tiiey cursed the sleeping vengeance of the laws, 
That thus forgot her guardian sailors' cause. 

Meanwhile the master's voice again they heard, 
Whom, as with filial duty, all revered : 
" No more remains — but now a trusty band 
Must ever at the pumps industrious stand ; 
And, while with us the rest attend to wear, 
Two skilful seamen to the helm repair — 
And Thou, Eternal Pow r er !■ whose awful sway 
The storms revere, and roaring seas obey ! 
On thy supreme assistance we rely • 
Thy mercy supplicate, if doom'd to die ! 
Perhaps this storm is sent with healing breath 
From neighbouring shores to scourge disease and 

death : 
'Tis ours on thine unerring laws to trust, 
With thee, great Lord ! ' whatever is, is just.' " 



98 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



He said : and with consenting reverence fraught, 
The sailors join'd his prayer in silent thought : 
His intellectual eye, serenely bright, 
Saw distant objects with prophetic light — 
Thus in a land, that lasting wars oppress, 
That groans beneath misfortune and distress ; 
Whose wealth to conquering armies falls a prey, 
Till all her vigour, pride, and fame decay ; 
Some bold sagacious statesman, from the helm, 
Sees desolation gathering o'er his realm ; 
He darts around his penetrating eyes, 
Where dangers grow, and hostile unions rise ; 
With deep attention marks the' invading foe, 
Eludes their wiles, and frustrates every blow, 
Tries his last art the tottering state to save, 
Or in its ruins finds a glorious grave. 

Still in the yawning trough the vessel reels, 
Ingulf'd beneath two fluctuating hills ; 
On either side they rise, tremendous scene ! 
A long dark melancholy vale between : 
The balanced ship now forward, now behind, 
Still felt the' impression of the waves and wind, 
And to the right and left by turns inclined ; 



C. II. THE SHIPWRECK. 99 

But Albert from behind tlie balance drew, 
And on the prow its double efforts threw. 
The order now was given to bear away ! 
The order given, the timoneers obey : 
Both staysail sheets to midships were convey 'd, 
And round the foremost on each side belay'd ; 
Thus ready, to the halyards they apply, 
They hoist ! away the flitting ruins fly : 
i Yet Albert new resources still prepares, 
Conceals his grief, and doubles all his cares. — 
" Away there ! lower the mizenyard on deck," 
He calls, " and brace the foremost yards aback !" 
His great example every bosom fires, 
New life enkindles, and new hope inspires. 
While to the helm unfaithful still she lies, 
One desperate remedy at last he tries — 
" Haste ! with your weapons cut the shrouds and stay, 
And hew at once the mizenmast away!" 

He said : to cut the girding stay they run, 
Soon on each side the sever'd shrouds are gone : 
Fast by the fated pine bold Rodmond stands, 
The' impatient axe hung gleaming in his hands ; 
Brandish'd on high, it fell with dreadful sound, 
The tall mast groaning felt the deadly wound : 



100 THE SHIPWRECK. C. II. 

Deep gash'd beneath, the tottering structure rings, 
And crashing, thundering, o'er the quarter swings : 
Thus, when some limb, convulsed with pangs of death, 
Imbibes the gangrene's pestilential breath, 
The' experienced artist from the blood betrays 
The latent venom, or its course delays ; 
But if the' infection triumphs o'er his art, 
Tainting the vital stream that warms the heart, 
To stop the course of death's inflaming tides 
The' infected member from the trunk divides. 



END OF THE SECOND CANTO. 



THE 

SHIPWRECK. 



CANTO III. 

THE SCENE IS EXTENDED FROM THAT PART OF THE ARCHI- 
PELAGO WHICH LIES TEN MILES TO THE NORTHWARD OF 
FALCONERA TO CAPE COLONNA IN ATTICA. 



THE TIME ABOUT SEVEN HOURS,— FROM ONE UNTIL EIGHT IN THE 
MORNING. 



ARGUMENT. 

I. The beneficial Influence of Poetry in the Civilization of 

Mankind — Diffidence of the Author. II. Wreck of the 

Mizenmast cleared away — Ship put before the Wind — La- 
bours much — Different Stations of the Officers — Appearance 
of the Island of Falconera. III. Excursion to the adja- 
cent Nations of Greece renowned in Antiquity — Athens — 
Socrates — Plato — Aristides— Solon — Corinth — ItsArchitec 
ture — Sparta — Leonidas — Invasion by Xerxes — Lycurgus — 
Epaminondas — Present state of the Spartans — Arcadia — 
Former Happiness and Fertility — Its present Distress the 
Effect of Slavery — Ithaca — Ulysses and Penelope— Argos 
and My caene — Agamemnon — Macronisi — Lemnos — Vul- 
'can — Delos — Apollo and Diana— Troy — Sestos — Leander 
and Hero — Delphos — Temple of Apollo— Parnassus — The 

Muses. IV. Subject resumed — Address to the Spirits of 

the Storm — A tempest, accompanied with Rain, Hail, and 
Meteors — Darkness of the Night, Lightning and Thunder- 
Daybreak — St. George's Cliffs open upon them — The Ship, 

in great danger, passes the Island of St. George. V. Land 

of Athens appears — Helmsman struck blind by Lightning — 
Ship laid broadside to the Shore — Bowsprit, Foremast, and 
Main Topmast carried away — Albert, Rodmond, Arion, and 
Palemon strive to save themselves on the wreck of the 
Foremast — The ship parts asunder — Death of Albert and 
Rodmond— Arion reaches the shore — Finds Palemon ex- 
piring on the Beach — His dying Address to Arion, who Is 
led* away by the humane Natives, 




Had'st thou soft Maiden! in this hour of woe 
Beheld' him -wri thing- from the deadly "blow, 
What force of art, what language could exprefs 
Thine agony, thine exquisite distref s ? 



DRAWN- BY RICHARD WE STALL-, B_A. ENGRAVED BY WILLIAM FIND EN; 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN SHARPE, LONDON. 

JAN. L1827. 



THE 

SHIPWRECK. 

CANTO III. 

I. When in a barbarous age, with blood defiled, 

The human savage roam'd the gloomy wild ; 

When sullen Ignorance her flag display'd, 

And Rapine and Revenge her voice obey'd ; 

Sent from the shores of light the Muses came 

The dark and solitary race to tame, 

The war of lawless passions to control, 

To melt in tender sympathy the soul ; 

The heart's remote recesses to explore, 

And touch its springs when prose avail'd no more : 

The kindling spirit caught the' empyreal ray, 

And glow'd congenial with the swelling lay ; 

Roused from the chaos of primeval night, 

At once fair Truth and Reason sprung to light. 



104 THE SHIPWBECK. C. III. 

When great Maeonides, in rapid song, 

The thundering tide of battle rolls along, 

Each ravish' d bosom feels the high alarms, 

And all the burning pulses beat to arms; 

Hence, War's terrific glory to display 

Became the theme of every epic lay : 

But when his strings with mournful magic tell 

What dire distress Laertes' son befell, 

The strains meandering through the maze of woe 

Bid sacred sympathy the heart o'erflow ; 

Far through the boundless realms of thought he springs, 

From earth upborne on Pegasean wings, 

While distant Poets, trembling as they view 

His sunward flight, the dazzling track pursue ; 

His magic voice that rouses and delights, 

Allures and guides to climb Olympian heights : 

But I, alas ! through scenes bewilder'd stray, 

Far from the light of his unerring ray ; 

While, all unused the wayward path to tread, 

Darkling I wander with prophetic dread ; 

To me in vain the bold Maeonian lyre 

Awakes the numbers fraught with living fire ; 

Full oft indeed that mournful harp of yore 

Wept the sad wanderer lost upon the shore ; 



C III. THE SHIPWRECK. 105 

"lis true he lightly sketch' d the bold design, 
But toils more joyless, more severe are mine ; 
Since o'er that scene his genius swiftly ran, 
Subservient only to a nobler plan ; 
But I, perplex'd in labyrinths of art, 
Anatomize, and blazon every part ; 
Attempt with plaintive numbers to display 
And chain the' events in regular array ; 
Though hard the task to sing in varied strains, 
When still unchanged the same sad theme remains * 
O, could it draw compassion's melting tear 
For kindred miseries, oft beheld too near ! 
For kindred wretches, oft in ruin cast 
On Albion's strand beneath the wintry blast ; 
For all the pangs, the complicated woe, 
Her bravest sons, her guardian sailors know r : 
Then every breast should sigh at our distress — 
This w^ere the summit of my hoped success ! 
For this, my theme, through mazes I pursue, 
Which nor JMaeonides nor Maro knew. 

II. Awhile the mast, in ruins dragg'd behind, 
Balanced the' impression of the helm and wind ; 
The wounded serpent, agonized w^ith pain, 
Thus trails his mangled volume on the plain : 



106 THE SHIPWRECK. C. III. 

But now the wreck, dissever'd from the rear, 

The long reluctant prow began to veer : 

While round before the enlarging wind it falls, 

" Square fore and aft the yards," the master calls : 

" You, timoneers, her motion still attend, 

For on your steerage all our lives depend : 

So, steady ! meet her ! watch the curving prow, 

And from the gale directly let her go." 

" Starboard again !" the watchful pilot cries, 

" Starboard !" the obedient timoneer replies : 

Then back to port revolving at command, 

The wheel rolls swiftly through each glowing hand. 

The ship no longer, foundering by the lee, 

Bears on her side the invasions of the sea ; 

All lonely o'er the desert waste she flies, 

Scourged on by surges, storms, and bursting skies : 

As when enclosing harpooners assail 

In Hyperborean seas the slumbering whale, 

Soon as their javelins pierce his scaly side, 

He groans, he darts impetuous down the tide ; 

And, rack'd all o'er with lacerating pain, 

He flies remote beneath the flood in vain — 

So with resistless haste the wounded ship 

Scuds from the chasing waves along the deep : 



C. III. THE SHIPWRECK. 107 

While, dash'd apart by her dividing prow, 
Like burning adamant the waters glow ; 
Her joints forget their firm elastic tone, 
Her long keel trembles, and her timbers groan : 
Upheaved behind her in tremendous height 
The billows frown, with fearful radiance bright : 
Now quivering o'er the topmost wave she rides, 
While deep beneath the' enormous gulf divides ; 
Now launching headlong down the horrid vale, 
Becalm' d, she hears no more the howling gale ; 
Till up the dreadful height again she flies, 
Trembling beneath the current of the skies : 
As that rebellious angel, who, from heaven, 
To regions of eternal pain was driven, 
When dreadless he forsook the Stygian shore 
The distant realms of Eden to explore ; 
Here, on sulphureous clouds sublime upheaved, 
With daring wing the' infernal air he cleaved ; 
There, in some hideous gulf descending prone, 
Far in the void abrupt of night was thrown — 
E'en so she climbs the briny mountain's height, 
Then down the black abyss precipitates her night : 
The masts, about whose tops the whirlwinds sing, 
"With long vibration round her axle swing. 

h 2 



108 THE SHirWRECK. C. III. 

To guide her wayward course amid the gloom, 
The watchful pilots different posts assume : 
Albert and Rodmond on the poop appear, 
There to direct each guiding timoneer ; 
While at the bow the watch Arion keeps, 
To shun what cruisers wander o'er the deeps : 
Where'er he moves Palemon still attends, 
As if on him his only hope depends ; 
While Rodmond, fearful of some neighbouring shore, 
Cries, ever and anon, " Look out afore !" 

Thus o'er the flood four hours she scudding flew, 
When Falconera's rugged cliffs they view, 
Faintly along the larboard bow descried, 
As o'er its mountain tops the lightnings glide ; 
High o'er its summit, through the gloom of night : 
The glimmering watchtower cast a mournful light : 
In dire amazement riveted they stand, 
And hear the breakers lash the rugged strand — 
But scarce perceived, when past the beam it flies, 
Swift as the rapid eagle cleaves the skies : 
That danger pass'd reflects a feeble joy, 
But soon returning fears their hope destroy: 
As in the' Atlantic Ocean, when we find 
Some alp of ice driven southward by the wind, 



C. III. THE SHIPWRECK. 109 

The sultry air all sickening pants around, 

In deluges of torrid ether drown' d; 

Till when the floating isle approaches nigh, 

In cooling tides the' aerial billows fly : 

Awhile delivered from the scorching heat, 

In gentler tides our feverish pulses beat : 

Such transient pleasure, as they pass'd this strand, 

A moment hade their throbbing hearts expand ; 

The' illusive meteors of a lifeless fire, 

Too soon they kindle, and too soon expire. 

III. Say, Memory ! thou, from whose unerring 
tongue- 
Instructive flows the animated song, 
What regions now the scudding ship surround ? 
Regions of old through all the world renown 'd ; 
That, once the Poet's theme, the Muses' boast, 
Xow lie in ruins, in oblivion lost ! 
Did they, whose sad distress these lays deplore, 
Unskill'd in Grecian or in Roman lore, 
Unconscious pass along each famous shore 1 
They did : for in this desert, joyless soil 
Xo flowers of genial science deign to smile ; 
Sad ocean's genius, in untimely hour, 
Withers the bloom of every springing flower ; 



110 THE SHIPWRECK. C. III. 

For native tempests here with blasting breath 

Despoil, and doom the vernal buds to death j 

Here fancy droops, while sullen clouds and storm 

The generous temper of the soul deform : 

Then, if among the wandering naval train, 

One stripling, exiled from the' Aonian plain, 

Had e'er, entranced in Fancy's soothing dream, 

Approach'd to taste the sweet Castalian stream 

(Since those salubrious streams, with power divine, 

To purer sense the soften'd soul refine) ; 

Sure he, amid unsocial mates immured, 

To learning lost, severer grief endured ; 

In vain might Phoebus' ray his mind inspire, 

Since Fate with torrents quench'd the kindling fire : 

If one this pain of living death possess'd, 

It dwelt supreme, Arion ! in thy breast ; 

When, with Palemon, watching in the night 

Beneath pale Cynthia's melancholy light, 

You oft recounted those surrounding states, 

Whose glory Fame with brazen tongue relates. 

Immortal Athens first, in ruin spread, 
Contiguous lies at Port Liono's head ; 
Great source of science ! whose immortal name 
Stands foremost in the glorious roll of Fame : 



C.III. THE SHIPWRECK. Ill 

Here godlike Socrates and Plato shone, 

And, firm to truth, eternal honour won ; 

The first in Virtue's cause his life resign'd, 

By Heaven pronounced the wisest of mankind ; 

The last proclaim'd the spark of vital fire, 

The soul's fine essence never could expire : 

Here Solon dw r elt, the philosophic sage 

That fled Pisistratus' vindictive rage : 

Just Aristides here maintain'd the cause, 

Whose sacred precepts shine through Solon's laws. 

Of all her tow T ering structures, now alone 

Some columns stand, with mantling w^eeds o'ergrown ; 

The wandering stranger near the port descries 

A milkwhite lion of stupendous size, 

Of antique marble ; hence the haven's name, 

Unknown to modern natives whence it came. 

Next, in the gulf of Engia, Corinth lies, 
Whose gorgeous fabrics seem'd to strike the skies ; 
Whom, though by tyrant victors oft subdued, 
Greece, Egypt, Rome with admiration view'd: 
Her name, for Architecture long renown'd, 
Spread like the foliage which her pillars crown'd ; 
But now, in fatal desolation laid, 
Oblivion o'er it draws a dismal shade. 



112 THE SHIPWRECK. C. III. 

Then further westward, on Morea's land, 
Fair Misitra ! thy modern turrets stand : 
Ah ! who, unmoved with secret woe, can tell 
That here great Lacedaemon's glory fell ; 
Here once she flourish' d; at whose trumpet's sound 
War burst his chains, and nations shook around , 
Here brave Leonidas from shore to shore 
Through allAchaia bade her thunders roar : 
He, when imperial Xerxes from afar 
Advanced with Persia's sumless hosts to war, 
Till Macedonia shrunk beneath his spear, 
And Greece all shudder'd as the chief drew near ; 
He, at Thermopylae's decisive plain 
Their force opposed with Sparta's glorious train ; 
Tall (Eta saw the tyrant's conquer'd bands 
In gasping millions bleed on hostile lands : 
Thus vanquish' d, haughty Asia heard thy name, 
And Thebes and Athens sicken'd at thy fame ; 
Thy state, supported by Lycurgus' laws, 
Gain'd, like thine arms, superlative applause ; 
E'en great Epaminondas strove in vain 
To curb thy spirit with a Theban chain : 
But ah ! how low that freeborn spirit now ! 
Thy abject sons to haughty tyrants bow ; 



C. III. THE SHIPWRECK. 113 

A false, degenerate, superstitious race 
Invest thy region, and its name disgrace. 

Not distant far, Arcadia's bless'd domains 
Peloponnesus' circling shore contains : 
Thrice happy soil ! where still serenely gay, 
Indulgent Flora breathed perpetual May : 
Where buxom Ceres bade each fertile field 
Spontaneous gifts in rich profusion yield ; 
Then with some rural nymph, supremely bless' d, 
While transport glow'd in each enamour'd breast, 
Each faithful shepherd told his tender pain, 
And sung of silvan sports in artless strain ; 
Soft as the happy swain's enchanting lay 
That pipes among " The shades of Endermay ;" 
Now sad reverse ! Oppression's iron hand 
Enslaves her natives, and despoils her land ; 
In lawless rapine bred, a sanguine train, 
With midnight ravage, scour the' uncultured plain. 

Westward of these, beyond the Isthmus, lies 
The long sought Isle of Ithacus the wise ; 
Where fair Penelope, of him deprived, 
To guard her honour endless schemes contrived : 
She, only shielded by a stripling son, 
Her lord Ulysses long to Ilion gone, 



114 THE SHIPWRECK. C. Ill 

Each bold attempt of suitor-kings repell'd, 
And undefiled her nuptial contract held ; 
True to her vows, and resolutely chaste, 
Met arts with art, and triumph'd at the last. 

Argos, in Greece forgotten and unknown, 
Still seems her cruel fortune to bemoan : 
Argos, whose monarch led the Grecian hosts 
Across the' iEgean main to Dardan coasts : 
Unhappy prince ! who, on a hostile shore, 
Fatigue and danger ten long winters bore ; 
And when to native realms restored at last 
To reap the harvest of thy labours past, 
There found a perjured friend and faithless wife, 
Who sacrificed to impious lust thy life : 
Fast by Arcadia stretch these desert plains, 
And o'er the land a gloomy tyrant reigns. 

Next Macronisi is adjacent seen, 
Where adverse winds detain'd the Spartan queen ; 
For whom, in arms combined, the Grecian host, 
With vengeance fired, invaded Phrygia's coast; 
For whom so long they labour'd to destroy 
The lofty turrets of imperial Troy ; 
Here driven by Juno's rage, the hapless dame, 
Forlorn of heart, from ruin'd Ilion came. 



C. HI. THE SHIPWRECK. il5 

The port an image bears of Parian stone, 
Of ancient fabric, but of date unknown. 

Due east from this appears the* immortal shore 
That sacred Phoebus and Diana bore, 
Delos ! through all the' iEgean seas renown'd, 
Whose coast the rocky Cyclades surround : 
By Phoebus honour'd, and by Greece revered, 
Her hallow'd groves e'en distant Persia fear'd : 
But now a desert unfrequented land, 
No human footstep marks the trackless sand. 

Thence to the north by Asia's western bound 
Fair Lemnos stands with rising marble crown'd ; 
Where, in her rage, avenging Juno hurl'd 
111 fated Vulcan from the etherial world : 
There his eternal anvils first he rear'd ; 
Then, forged by Cyclopean art, appear'd 
Thunders that shook the skies with dire alarms, 
.£nd form'd, by skill divine, immortal arms ; 
There, with this crippled wretch, the foul disgrace 
And living scandal of the' empyreal race, 
In wedlock lived the beauteous Queen of love. 
Can such sensations heavenly bosoms move ? 

Eastward of this appears the Dardan shore, 
That once the' imperial towers of Ilium bore, 



116 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



Illustrious Troy ! renown'd in every clime 
Through the long records of succeeding time ; 
Who saw protecting gods from heaven descend 
Full oft thy royal bulwarks to defend: 
Though chiefs unnumber'd in her cause were slain, 
With Fate the gods and heroes fought in vain ! 
That refuge of perfidious Helen's shame 
At midnight was involved in Grecian flame ; 
And now, by Time's deep ploughshare furrow'd o'er, 
The seat of sacred Troy is found no more : 
No trace of her proud fabrics now remains, 
But corn and vines enrich her cultured plains ; 
Silver JScamander laves the verdant shore, 
Scamander, oft o'erflow'd with hostile gore. 
Not far removed from Ilion's famous land 
In counterview appears the Thracian strand, 
Where beauteous Hero, from the turret's height, 
Display'd her cresset each revolving night ; 
Whose gleam directed loved Leander o'er 
The rolling Hellespont from Asia's shore ; 
Till in a fated hour, on Thracia's coast, 
She saw her lover's lifeless body toss'd ; 
Then felt her bosom agony severe, 
Her eyes, sad gazing, pour'd the' incessant tear ; 



C. III. THE SHIPWRECK. 11? 

O'erwhelm'd with anguish, frantic with despair, 
She beat her swelling breast, and tore her hair ; 
On dear Leander's name in vain she cried, 
Then headlong plunged into the parting tide : 
The' exulting tide received the lovely rnaid, 
And proudly from the strand its freight convey 'd. 
Tar west of Thrace, beyond the' iEgean main, 
Remote from ocean lies the Delphic plain : 
The sacred oracle of Phoebus there 
High o'er the mount arose, divinely fair ! 
Achaian marble form'd the gorgeous pile, 
August the fabric ! elegant its style ! 
On brazen hinges turn'd the silver doors, 
And chequer'd marble paved the polish' d floors ; 
The roof, where storied tablature appear'd, 
On columns of Corinthian mould was rear'd ; 
Of shining porphyry the shafts were framed, 
And round the hollow dome bright jewels flamed : 
Apollo's priests, before the holy shrine 
Suppliant, pour'd forth their orisons divine ; 
To front the sun's declining ray 'twas placed, 
With golden harps and branching laurels graced : 
Around the fane, engraved by Vulcan's hand, 
The sciences and arts were seen to stand ; 



118 THE SHIPWRECK. C. ill. 

Here iEsculapius' snake display'd his crest, 
And burning glories sparkled on Ins breast ; 
While from his eye's insufferable light, 
Disease and death recoil'd in headlong flight : 
Of this great temple, through all time renown' d, 
Sunk in oblivion, no remains are found. 

Contiguous here, with hallow'd woods o'erspread, 
Renown'd Parnassus lifts its honour'd head ; 
There roses blossom in eternal spring, 
And strains celestial feather'd warblers sing : 
Apollo, here, bestows the' unfading wreath ; 
Here zephyrs aromatic odours breathe ; 
They o'er Castalian plains diffuse perfume, 
Where round the scene perennial laurels bloom ; 
Fair daughters of the Sun, the sacred Nine ! 
Here wake to ecstasy their harps divine, 
Or bid the Paphian lute mellifluous play, 
And tune to plaintive love the liquid lay ; 
Their numbers every mental storm control, 
And lull to harmony the' afflicted soul, 
With heavenly balm the tortured breast compose, 
And sooth the agony of latent woes : 
The verdant shades that Helicon surround 
On rosy gales seraphic tunes resound : 



C III. THE SHIPWRECK. 119 

Perpetual summers crown the happy hours, 
Sweet as the breath that fans Elysian flowers : 
Here pleasure dances in an endless round, 
And love, and joy ineffable abound. 

IV. Stop, wandering thought! methinks I feel their 
strains 
Diffuse delicious languor through my veins : 
Adieu, ye flowery vales, and fragrant scenes, 
Delightful bowers, and ever vernal greens ! 
Adieu, ye streams ! that o'er enchanted ground, 
In lucid maze the' Aonian hill surround; 
Ye fairy scenes ! where fancy loves to dwell, 
And, young delight, for ever, oh ! farewell ! 
The soul with tender luxury you fill, 
And o'er the sense Lethean dews distil — 
Awake, O, Memory ! from the' inglorious dream, 
With brazen lungs resume the kindling theme ; 
Collect thy powers, arouse thy vital fire, 
Ye spirits of the storm, my verse inspire ! 
Koarse as the whirlwinds that enrage the main, 
In torrent pour along the swelling strain. 

Now through the parting wave impetuous bore, 
The scudding vessel stemm'd the' Athenian shore ; 
The pilots, as the waves behind her swell, 
Still with the wheeling stem her force repel ; 



120 THE SHIPWRECK. C. III. 

For this assault should either quarter feel, 

Again to flank the tempest she might reel : 

The steersmen every bidden turn apply, 

To right and left the spokes alternate fly — i 

Thus, when some conquer'd host retreats in fear, 

The bravest leaders guard the broken rear ; 

Indignant they retire, and long oppose 

Superior armies that around them close ; 

Still shield the flanks, the routed squadrons join, 

And guide the flight in one continued line : 

Thus they direct the flying bark before 

The* impelling floods, that lash her to the shore : 

High o'er the poop the' audacious seas aspire, 

Uproll'd in hills of fluctuating fire ; 

With labouring throes she rolls on either side, 

And dips her gunnels in the yawning tide; 

Her joints unhinged in palsied languors play, 

As ice-flakes part beneath the noontide ray : 

The gale howls doleful through the blocks and shrouds, 

And big rain pours a deluge from the clouds ; 

From wintry magazines that sweep the sky 

Descending globes of hail impetuous fly : 

High on the masts, with pale and livid rays, 

Amid the gloom portentous meteors blaze ; 



C. III. THE SHIPWRECK. l£l 

The' etherialdome in mournful pomp array 'd 
Now buried lies beneath, impervious sbade, 
Now, flashing round intolerable light, 
Redoubles all the horrors of the night — 
Such terror Sinai's trembling hill o'erspread, 
When Heaven's loud trumpet sounded o'er its head : 
It seem'd, the wrathful angel of the wind 
Had all the horrors of the skies combined, 
And here, to one ill fated ship opposed, 
At once the dreadful magazine disclosed : 
And lo ! tremendous o'er the deep he springs, 
The' inflaming sulphur flashing from his wings; 
Hark ! his strong voice the dismal silence breaks, 
Mad Chaos from the chains of death awakes : 
Loud and more loud, the rolling peals enlarge, 
And blue on deck the fiery tides discharge ; 
There all aghast the shivering wretches stood, 
While chill suspense and fear congeal'd their blood ; 
Wide bursts in dazzling sheets the living flame, 
And dread concussion rends the' etherial frame ; 
Sick earth convulsive groans from shore to shore, 
And nature, shuddering, feels the horrid roar. 

Still the sad prospect rises on my sight, 
Reveal'd in all its mournful shade and light ; 






122 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



E'en now my ear with quick vibration feels 
The' explosion burst in strong rebounding peals : 
Swift through my pulses glides the kindling fire, 
As lightning glances on the electric wire : 
Yet ah ! the languid colours vainly strive 
To bid the scene in native hues revive. 

But lo ! at last, from tenfold darkness born, 
Forth issues o'er the wave the weeping morn : 
Hail, sacred Vision ! who, on orient wings, 
The cheering dawn of light propitious brings ; 
All Nature smiling hail'd the vivid ray 
That gave her beauties to returning day, 
All but our ship ! w r hich, groaning on the tide y 
No kind relief, no gleam of hope descried ; 
For now in front her trembling inmates see 
The hills of Greece emerging on the lee — 
So the lost lover views that fatal morn, 
On which for ever, from his bosom torn, 
The maid adored resigns her blooming charms. 
To bless with love some happier rival's arms ; 
So to Eliza dawn'd that cruel day 
That tore iEneas from her sight away, 
That saw him parting never to return, 
Herself in funeral flames decreed to burn. 



THE SHIPWRECK. 



O, yet in clouds, thou genial Source of Light ! 

Conceal thy radiant glories from our sight ; 

Go, with thy smile adorn the happy plain, 

And gild the scenes where health and pleasure reign ; 

But let not here, in scorn, thy wanton beam 

Insult the dreadful grandeur of my theme. 

While shoreward now the bounding vessel flies, 
Full in her van St. George's cliffs arise, 
High o'er the rest a pointed crag is seen, 
That hung projecting o'er a mossy green ; 
Huge breakers on the larboard bow appear, 
And full ahead its eastern ledges bear : 
To steer more eastward Albert still commands, 
And shun, if possible, the fatal strands — 
Nearer and nearer now the danger grows, 
And all their skill relentless fates oppose ; 
For while more eastward they direct the prow, 
Enormous waves the quivering deck o'ernow ; 
While, as she wheels, unable to subdue 
Her sallies, still they dread her broaching-to : 
Alarming thought ! for now no more alee 
Her trembling side could bear the mountain'd sea ; 
And if pursuing waves she scuds before, 
Headlong she runs upon the frightful shore ; 

i2 



124 THE SHIPWRECK. C. III. 

A shore, where shelves and hidden rocks ahound : 

Where death in secret ambush lurks around : 

Not half so dreadful to Eneas' eyes 

The Straits of Sicily were seen to rise, 

When Palinurus from the helm descried 

The Rocks of Sylla on his eastern side, 

While in the west, with hideous yawn disclosed. 

His onward path Chary bdis' gulf opposed 5 

The double danger he alternate view'd, 

And cautiously his arduous track pursued : 

Thus, while to right and left destruction lies, 

Between the' extremes the daring vessel flies ; 

With terrible irruption bursting o'er 

The marble cliffs, tremendous surges roar; 

Hoarse through each winding creek the tempest raves. 

And hollow rocks repeat the groan of waves : 

Should once the bottom strike this cruel shore, 

The parting ship that instant is no more ; 

Nor she alone, but with her all the crew, 

Beyond relief are doom'd to perish too : 

But haply she escapes the dreadful strand, 

Though scarce her length in distance from the land ; 

Swift as the weapon quits the Scythian bow, 

She cleaves the burning billows with her prow, 



C. III. THE SHIPWRECK. 125 

And, forward hurrying with impetuous haste, 
Borne on the tempest's wings the isle she pass'd : 
With longing eyes and agony of mind, 
The sailors view this refuge left behind ; 
Happy to bribe with India's richest ore 
A safe accession to that barren shore — 
When in the dark Peruvian mine confined, 
Lost to the cheerful commerce of mankind, 
The groaning captive wastes his life away, 
For ever exiled from the realms of day, 
Not half such pangs his bosom agonize 
When up to distant light he rolls his eyes ! 
Where the broad sun, in his diurnal way, 
Imparts to all beside his vivid ray, 
While, all forlorn, the victim pines in vain 
For scenes he never shall possess again. 

V. But now Athenian mountains they descry, 
And o'er the surge Colonna frowns on high ; 
Where marble columns, long by time defaced, 
Moss-cover'd on the lofty cape are placed ; 
There rear'd by fair devotion to sustain 
In elder times Tritonia's sacred fane ; 
The circling beach in murderous form appears, 
Decisive goal of all their hopes and fears : 



l c 26 THE SHIPWRECK. C. II 

The seamen now in wild amazement see 
The scene of ruin rise beneath the lee ; 
Swift from their minds elapsed all dangers past, 
As dumb with terror they behold the last. 
And now, while wing'd with ruin from on high, 
Through the rent cloud the ragged lightnings fly, 
A flash, quick glancing on the nerves of light, 
Struck the pale helmsman with eternal night : 
Kodmond, who heard a piteous groan behind, 
Touch'd with compassion gazed upon the blind j 
And, while around his sad companions crowd, 
He guides the' unhappy victim to the shroud : 
" Hie thee aloft, my gallant friend \" he cries : 
" Thy only succour on the mast relies." 
The helm, bereft of half its vital force, 
Now scarce subdued the wild unbridled course } 
Quick to the' abandon'd wheel Arion came, 
The ship's tempestuous sallies to reclaim : 
The vessel, while the dread event draws nigh, 
Seems more impatient o'er the waves to fly 5 
Fate spurs her on ! — Thus, issuing from afar. 
Advances to the sun some blazing star, 
And, as it feels Attraction's kindling force, 
Springs onward with accelerated course. 



C, III* THE SHIPWRECK. 127 

The moment fraught with fate approaches fast ! 
While thronging sailors climb each quivering mast ; 
The ship no longer now must stem the land, 
And, ' hard a starboard V is the last command: 
While every suppliant voice to Heaven applies, 
The prow, swift wheeling, to the westward flies ; 
Twelve sailors, on the foremast who depend, 
High on the platform of the top ascend, 
Fatal retreat ! for, while the plunging prow 
Immerges headlong in the wave below, 
Downpress'd by watery weight the bowsprit bends, 
And from above the stem deep-crashing rends : 
Beneath her bow the floating ruins lie ; 
The foremast totters, unsustain'd on high ; 
And now the ship, forelifted by the sea, 
Hurls the tall fabric backward o'er her lee ; 
W T hile, in the general wreck, the faithful stay 
Drags the main topmast by the cap away : 
Flung from the mast, the seamen strive in vain, 
Through hostile floods their vessel to regain ; 
Weak hope, alas ! they buffet long the wave, 
And grasp at life though sinking in the grave ; 
Till, all exhausted and bereft of strength, 
O'erpower'd they yield to cruel fate at length; 



1 28 THE SHIPWRECK. C. III. 

The burying waters close around their head, 
They sink ! for ever number'd with the dead. 

Those who remain the weather shrouds embrace, 
Nor longer mourn their lost companions' case ; 
Transfix'd with terror at the' approaching doom, 
Self pity in their breasts alone has room : 
Albert, and Rodmond, and Palemon, near 
With young Arion on the mast appear ; 
E'en they, amid the' unspeakable distress, 
In every look distracting thoughts confess, 
In every vein the refluent blood congeals, 
And every bosom mortal terror feels ; 
Begirt with all the horrors of the main 
They view'd the adjacent shore, but view'd in vain : 
Such torments in the drear abodes of hell, 
Where sad despair laments with rueful yell,. 
Such torments agonize the damned breast, ( 

That sees remote the mansions of the bless'd. 

It comes ! the dire catrastrophe draws near, 
Lash'd furious on by destiny severe : 
The ship hangs hovering on the verge of death, 
Hell yawns, rocks rise, and breakers roar beneath I 
O, yet confirm my heart, ye powers above ! 
This last tremendous shock of fate to prove j 



C. m. THE SHIPWRECK. 129 

The tottering frame of reason yet sustain, 
Nor let this total havoc whirl my brain : 
Since I, all trembling in extreme distress, 
Must still the horrible result express. 

In vain, alas ! the sacred shades of yore 
Would arm the mind with philosophic lore ; 
In vain they'd teach us, at the latest breath, 
To smile serene amid the pangs of death : 
Immortal Zeno's self would trembling see 
Inexorable fate beneath the lee ; 
And Epictetus at the sight, in vain 
Attempt his stoic firmness to retain; 
Had Socrates, for godlike virtue famed, 
And wisest of the sons of men proclaim' d, 
Spectator of such various horrors been, 
E'en he had stagger'd at this dreadful scene. 

In vain the cords and axes were prepared, 
For every wave now smites the quivering yard ; 
High o'er the ship they throw a dreadful shade, 
Then on her burst in terrible cascade ; 
Across the founder'd deck o'erwhelming roar, 
And foaming, swelling, bound upon the shore. 
Swift up the mounting billow now she flies, 
Her shatter'd top half buried in the skies \ 



130 THE SHIPWRECK. C. III. 

Borne o'er a latent reef the hull impends, 
Then thundering on the marble crags descends : 
Her ponderous bulk the dire concussion feels, 
And o'er upheaving surges wounded reels — 
Again she plunges ! hark ! a second shock 
Bilges the splitting vessel on the rock. — 
Down on the vale of death, with dismal cries, 
The fated victims shuddering cast their eyes 
In wild despair : while yet another stroke, 
With strong convulsion rends the solid oak : 
Ah Heaven ! — behold her crashing ribs divide ! 
She loosens, parts, and spreads in ruin o'er the tide. 

Oh, were it mine with sacred Maro's art 
To wake to sympathy the feeling heart, 
Like him, the smooth and mournful verse to dress, 
In all the pomp of exquisite distress ; 
Then, too severely taught by cruel fate, 
To share in all the perils I relate, 
Then might I, with unrival'd strains, deplore 
The' impervious horrors of a leeward shore. 

As o'er the surf the bending mainmast hung, 
Still on the rigging thirty seamen clung : 
Some on a broken crag were struggling cast, 
And there by oozy tangles grappled fast ; 



C. III. ' THE SHIPWRECK. 131 

Awhile they bore the overwhelming billows' rage, 
Unequal combat with their fate to wage ; 
Till, all benumb'd and feeble, they forego 
Their slippery hold, and sink to shades below : 
Some, from the main yardarm impetuous thrown 
On marble ridges, die without a groan : 
Three with Palemon on their skill depend, 
And from the wreck on oars and rafts descend; 
Now on the mountain wave on high they ride, 
Then downward plunge beneath the' involving tide ; 
Till one, who seems in agony tor strive, 
The whirling breakers heave on shore alive : 
The rest a speedier end of anguish knew, 
And press' d the stony beach a lifeless crew ! 
Next, O unhappy chief! the' eternal doom 
Of Heaven decreed thee to the briny tomb : 
What scenes of misery torment thy view ! 
What painful struggles of thy dying crew ! 
Thy perish'd hopes all buried in the flood 
O'erspread with corses, red with human blood ; 
So pierced with anguish hoary Priam gazed, 
When Troy's imperial domes in ruin blazed ; 
While he, severest sorrow doom'd to feel, 
Expired beneath the victor's murdering steel — 



2 32 THE SHIPWRECK. C. T 

Thus with his helpless partners to the last, 
Sad refuge ! Albert grasps the floating mast. 
His soul could yet sustain this mortal blow, 
But droops, alas ! beneath superior woe ; 
For now strong Nature's sympathetic chain 
Tugs at his yearning heart with powerful strain : 
His faithful wife, for ever doom'd to mourn 
For him, alas ! who never shall return, 
To black Adversity's approach exposed, 
With want and hardships unforeseen enclosed ; 
His lovely daughter, left without a friend 
Her innocence to succour and defend, 
By youth and indigence set forth a prey 
To lawless guilt that flatters to betray — 
While these reflections rack his feeling mind, 
Rodmond, who hung beside, his grasp resign'd ; 
And, as the tumbling waters o'er him roll'd, 
His outstretch'd arms the master's legs infold : 
Sad Albert feels their dissolution near, 
And strives in vain his fetter' d limbs to clear, 
For death bids every clenching joint adhere : 
All faint, to Heaven he throws his dying eyes, 
And, ' O, protect my wife and child !' he cries— 



C III. THE SHIPWRECK. 135 

The gushing streams roll back the' unfinish'd sound, 
He gasps ! and sinks amid the vast profound. 
Five only left of all the shipwreck' d throng 
Yet ride the mast which shoreward drives along ; 
With these Arion still his hold secures, 
And all assaults of hostile waves endures : 
O'er the dire prospect as for life he strives, 
He looks if poor Palemon yet survives — 
" Ah, wherefore, trusting to unequal art, 
Didst thou, incautious ! from the wreck depart ! 
Alas ! these rocks all human skill defy ; 
Who strikes them once, beyond relief must die : 
And now sore wounded, thou perhaps art toss' d 
On these, or in some oozy cavern lost:" 
Thus thought Arion : anxious gazing round 
In Tain, his eyes no more Palemon found.- — 
The demons of destruction hover nigh, 
And thick their mortal shafts commission' d fly : 
When now a breaking surge, with forceful sway, 
Two, next Arion, furious tears away : 
Hurl'd on the crags, behold, they gasp, they bleed ! 
And, groaning, cling upon the' elusive weed; 
Another billow bursts in boundless roar ! 
Arion sinks ! and Memory views no more. 



134 THE SHIPWRECK. C III. 

Ha ! total night and horror here preside, 
My stunn'd ear tingles to the whizzing tide ; 
It is their funeral knell ! and gliding near 
Methinks the phantoms of the dead appear ; 
But lo ! emerging from the watery grave 
Again they float incumbent on the wave, 
Again the dismal prospect opens round, 
The wreck, the shore, the dying, and the drown'd! 
And see ! enfeebled by repeated shocks, 
Those two, who scramble on the' adjacent rocks, 
Their faithless hold no longer can retain, 
They sink o'erwhelm'd ! and never rise again. 

Two with Arion yet the mast upbore, 
That now above the ridges reach' d the shore ; 
Still trembling to descend, they downward gaze 
With horror pale, and torpid with amaze : 
The floods recoil ! the ground appears below ! 
And life's faint embers now rekindling glow ; 
Awhile they wait the* exhausted waves' retreat, 
Then climb slow up the beach with hands and feet. 
O Heaven ! delivered by whose sovereign hand 
Still on destruction's brink they shuddering stand, 
Eeceive the languid incense they bestow, 
That, damp with death, appears not yet to glow. 



C, III. THE SHIPWRECK. 135 

To Thee each soul the warm oblation pays 
With trembling ardour of unequal praise ; 
In every heart dismay with wonder strives, 
And Hope the sicken* d spark of life revives, 
Her magic powers their exiled health restore, 
Till horror and despair are felt no more. 

Roused by the blustering tempest of the night, 
A troop of Grecians mount Colonna's height ; 
When, gazing down with horror on the flood, 
Full to their view the scene of ruin stood — 
The surf with mangled bodies strew' d around, 
And those yet breathing on the seawash'd ground ; 
Though lost to science and the nobler arts, 
Yet Nature's lore inform' d their feeling hearts ; 
Straight down the vale with hastening steps they hied, 
The' unhappy sufferers to assist and guide. 

Meanwhile, those three escaped beneath explore 
The first adventurous youth who reach'd the shore : 
Panting, with eyes averted from the day, 
Prone, helpless, on the tangly beach he lay. 
It is Palemon ! oh, what tumults roll 
With hope and terror in Arion's soul ; 
" If yet unhurt he lives again to view 
His friend, and this sole remnant of our crew, 



136 THE SHIPWRECK. C. III. 

With us to travel through this foreign zone, 
And share the future good or ill unknown?" 
Arion thus ; but ah, sad doom of Fate ! 
That bleeding Memory sorrows to relate ; 
While yet afloat, on some resisting rock 
His ribs were dash'd, and fractured with the shock : 
Heart-piercing sight ! those cheeks so late array'd 
In beauty's bloom, are pale with mortal shade ; 
Distilling blood his lovely breast o'erspread, 
And clogg'd the golden tresses of his head : 
Nor yet the lungs by this pernicious stroke 
Were wounded, or the vocal organs broke. 
Down from his neck, with blazing gems array'd, 
Thy image, lovely Anna ! hung portray'd ; 
The' unconscious figure, smiling all serene, 
Suspended in a golden chain was seen : 
Had'st thou, soft maiden ! in this hour of woe 
Beheld him writhing from the deadly blow, 
What force of art, what language could express 
Thine agony, thine exquisite distress ? 
But thou, alas ! art doom'd to weep in vain 
For him thine eyes shall never see again. 
With dumb amazement pale, Arion gazed, 
And cautiously the wounded youth upraised ; 



C, III. THE SHIPWRECK. 137" 

Palemon then, with equal pangs oppress'd, 
In faltering accents thus his friend address'd : 

" O rescued from destruction late so nigh, 
Beneath whose fatal influence doom'd I lie ; 
Are we then, exiled to this last retreat 
Of life, unhappy ! thus decreed to meet ? 
Ah ! how unlike what yestermom enjoy'd, 
Enchanting hopes ! for ever now destroy'd ; 
For wounded, far beyond all healing power, 
Palemon dies, and this his final hour : 
By those fell breakers, where in vain I strove, 
At once cut off from fortune, life, and love ! 
Far other scenes must soon present my sight, 
That lie deep buried yet in tenfold night. 
Ah ! wretched father of a wretched son, 
Whom thy paternal prudence has undone ; 
How will remembrance of this blinded care 
Bend down thy head with anguish and despair I 
Such dire effects from Avarice arise, 
That, deaf to Nature's voice and vainly wise, 
With force severe endeavours to control 
The noblest passions that inspire the soul. 
But, O Thou sacred Power ! whose law connects 
The' eternal chains of causes and effects, 



138 THE SHIPWRECK. C. Ill, 

Let not thy chastening ministers of rage 

Afflict with sharp remorse "his feeble age : 

And you, Arion ! who with these the last 

Of all our crew survive the Shipwreck past — 

Ah ! cease to mourn, those friendly tears restrain, 

Nor give my dying moments keener pain ! 

Since Heaven may soon thy wandering steps restore 

When parted hence, to England's distant shore \ 

Shouldst thou, the* unwilling messenger of Fate, 

To him the tragic story first relate ; 

Oh ! Friendship's generous ardour then suppress, 

Nor hint the fatal cause of my distress ; 

Nor let each horrid incident sustain 

The lengthen' d tale to aggravate his pain : 

Ah ! then remember well my last request 

For her who reigns for ever in my breast ; 

Yet let him prove a father and a friend, 

The helpless maid to succour and defend — 

Say, I this suit implored with parting breath, 

So heaven befriend him at his hour of death ! 

But, oh ! to lovely Anna shouldst thou tell 

What dire untimely end thy friend befell ; 

Draw o'er the dismal scene soft Pity's veil, 

And lightly touch the lamentable tale : 



CHI. THE SHIPWRECK. 139 

Say that my love, inviolably true, 

No change, no diminution ever knew ; 

Lo ! her bright image, pendent on my neck, 

Is ail Palemon rescued from the wreck ; 

Take it ! and say, when panting in the wave, 

I struggled life and this alone to save. 

" My soul, that fluttering hastens to be free, 
Would yet a train of thoughts impart to thee, 
But strives in vain ; the chilling ice of Death 
Congeals my blood, and chokes the stream of breath : 
Kesign'd, she quits her comfortless abode 
To course that long, unknow r n eternal road — 
O sacred Source of everliving Light ! 
Conduct the weary wanderer in her flight ; 
Direct her onward to that peaceful shore, 
Where peril, pain, and death prevail no more. 

" When thou some tale of hapless love shalt hear, 
That steals from Pity's eye the melting tear ; 
Of two chaste hearts, by mutual passion join'd, 
To absence, sorrow, and despair consign'd ; 
Oh ! then, to swell the tides of social woe 
That heal the' afflicted bosom they overflow, 
While Memory dictates, this sad Shipwreck tell, 
And what distress thy wretched friend befell : 

k 2 



140 THE SHIPWRECK. C. Ill- 

Then while in streams of soft compassion drown'd, 
The swains lament, and maidens weep around ; 
While lisping children, touch' d with infant fear, 
With wonder gaze, and drop the' unconscious tear ; 
Oh ! then this moral hid their souls retain, 
All thoughts of happiness on earth are vain !" 

The last faint accents trembled on his tongue, 
That now inactive to the palate clung ; 
His bosom heaves a mortal groan — he dies ! 
And shades eternal sink upon his eyes. 

As thus defaced in death Palemon lay, 
Arion gazed upon the lifeless clay ; 
Transfix'd he stood, with awful terror fill'd, 
While down his cheek the silent drops distill'd : 

" O ill starred votary of unspotted truth ! 
Untimely perish'd in the bloom of youth ; 
Should e'er thy friend arrive on Albion's land, 
He will obey, though painful, thy command; 
His tongue the dreadful story shall display, 
And all the horrors of this dismal day : 
Disastrous day ! what ruin hast thou bred, 
What anguish to the living and the dead ! 
How hast thou left the widow all forlorn ; 
And ever doom'd the orphan child to mourn, 



C. III. THE SHIPWRECK. 141 

Through Life's sad journey hopeless to complain : 
Can sacred justice these events ordain ? 
But, O my soul ! avoid that wondrous maze 
Where Reason, lost in endless error, strays ; 
As through this thorny vale of life we run, 
Great Cause of all Effects, Thy will be done !" 
Now had the Grecians on the beach arrived, 
To aid the helpless few who yet survived: 
While passing, they behold the waves o'erspread 
With shatter' d rafts and corses of the dead ; 
Three still alive, benumb'd and faint, they find, 
In mournful silence on a rock reclined : 
The generous natives, moved with social pain, 
The feeble strangers in their arms sustain ; 
With pitying sighs their hapless lot deplore, 
And lead them trembling from the fatal shore. 




fILl 
EXE GT, 




From young Arion first, the news received 
With terror pale unhappy Anna read-, 
With inconsolable distrefs she grieved, 
And from her cheek the rose of beauty fled. 



DRAWN BY RICHARD WESTALL.R.A. ENGRAVED BY WILLIAM LINDEN ; 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN SITARRE , LONDON. 

JAN. 1. UV27. 



143 

OCCASIONAL ELEGY, 

IN WHICH THE PRECEDING NARRATIVE iS CONCLUDED. 



The scene of Death is closed ! the mournful strains 
Dissolve in dying languor on the ear; 

Yet Pity weeps, yet Sympathy complains, 

And dumb Suspense awaits o'erwhelm'd with fear : 

But the sad Muses with prophetic eye 
At once the future and the past explore ; 

Their harps Oblivion's influence can defy, 
And waft the spirit to the* eternal shore — 

Then, O Palemon ! if thy shade can hear 

The voice of Friendship still lament thy doom, 

Yet to the sad oblations bend thine ear, 
That rise in vocal incense o'er thy tomb : 

From young Arion first the news received 
With terror pale, unhappy Anna read; 
With inconsolable distress she grieved, 
•And from her cheek the rose of beauty fled. 



144 ELEGY. 

In vain, alas ! the gentle virgin wept, 

Corrosive anguish nipp'd her vital bloom ; 

O'er her soft frame diseases sternly crept, 
And gave the lovely victim to the tomb : 

A longer date of woe, the widow'd Wife 

Her lamentable lot afflicted bore ; 
Yet both were rescued from the chains of life 

Before Arion reach'd his native shore ! 

The Father, unrelenting phrensy stung, 

Untaught in Virtue's school distress to bear • 

Severe remorse his tortured bosom wrung, 

He languish'd, groan'd, and perish'd in despair. 

Ye lost companions of distress, adieu ! 

Your toils, and pains, and dangers are no more ; 
The tempest now shall howl unheard by you, * 

While ocean smites in vain the trembling shore ; 

On you the blast, surcharged with rain and snow', 
In Winter's dismal nights no more shall beat : 

Unfelt by you the vertic Sun may glow, 

And scorch the panting earth with baneful heat ; 






ELEGY. 145 

No more the joyful maid, with sprightly strain, 
Shall wake the dance to give you welcome home ; 

Nor hopeless Love impart undying pain, 

When far from scenes of social joy you roam ; 

No more on yon wide watery waste you stray, 
While hunger and disease your life consume, 

While parching thirst, that burns without allay, 
Forbids the blasted rose of health to bloom ; 

No more you feel Contagion's mortal breath, 
That taints the realms with misery severe ; 

No more behold pale Famine, scattering death, 
With cruel ravage desolate the year : 

The thundering drum, the trumpet's swelling strain 
Unheard, shall form the long embattled line ; 

Unheard, the deep foundations of the main 

Shall tremble, when the hostile squadrons join : 

Since grief, fatigue, and hazards still molest 
The wandering vassals of the faithless deep ; 

Oh ! happier now, escaped to endless rest, 
Than we who still survive to wake and weep : 



146 ELEGY. 

What though no funeral pomp, no borrow' d tear, 
Your hour of death to gazing crowds shall tell ; 

Nor weeping friends attend your sable bier, 
Who sadly listen to the passing bell ; 

The tutor' d sigh, the vain parade of woe, 

No real anguish to the soul impart ; 
And oft, alas ! the tear that friends bestow 

Belies the latent feelings of the heart : 

What though no sculptured pile your name displays, 
Like those who perish in their country's cause; 

What though no Epic Muse in living lays 

Records your dreadful daring with applause, — 

Full oft the nattering marble bids renown 

With blazon'd trophies deck the spotted name ; 

And oft, too oft, the venal Muses crown 
The slaves of Vice with never dying fame : 

Yet shall Remembrance from Oblivion's veil 
Relieve your scene, and sigh with grief sincere ; 

And soft Compassion at your tragic tale 
In silent tribute pay her kindred tear. 



NOTES. 



FIRST CANTO. ' 

Page 17, 1. 14. 

A shipboy on the high and giddy mast ! 
" Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast, 
Seal up the shipboy' s eyes, and rock his brains, 
In cradle of the rude imperious surge V 

SHAKSPEARE. 

Page 30, I. 1. O'er bar, and shelve, 

A bar is known, in hydrography, to he a mass of 
earth, or sand, that has been collected by the surge 
of the sea, at the entrance of a river, or haven, so as 
to render navigation difficult, and often dangerous. 
A shelf, or shelve, so called from the Saxon Schylf, is 
a name given to any dangerous shallows, sandbanks, 
or rocks, lying immediately under the surface of the 
water. 

Page S7, 1. 19. 
And lo ! the shore with mournful prospects crown* d. 
Alluding to the ever memorable siege of Candia, 
in 1669. 

Page 5%. 1. 10. 

The windlass is a large cylindrical piece of timber, 
used in merchant ships to heave up the anchors : it 



148 NOTES. 

is furnished with strong iron pauls, to prevent it from 
turning back by the efforts of the cable, when charged 
with the weight of the anchor, or strained by the violent 
jerking of the ship in a tempestuous sea. As the 
windlass is heaved about in a vertical direction, it is 
evident that the effort of an equal number of men, 
acting upon it will be much more powerful than on 
the capstan. It requires, however, some dexterity 
and address to manage the handspike, or lever, to the 
greatest advantage ; and to perform this the sailors 
must all rise at once upon the windlass, and, fixing 
their bars therein, give a sudden jerk at the same in- 
stant; in which movement they are regulated by a 
sort of song pronounced by one of the number. The 
most dexterous managers of the handspike, in heaving 
at the windlass, are generally supposed to be the col- 
liers of Northumberland ; and of all European mari- 
ners, the Dutch are certainly the most awkward and 
sluggish in this manoeuvre. 

Page 53, 1. 2. The stately ship they tow. 

From the Saxon teohan. Towing is chiefly used, as 
in the present instance, when a ship for want of wind 
is forced toward the shore by the swell of the sea. 

Page 53, 1. 19, 20. 

Now swelling studsails on each side extend, 
Then staysails sidelong to the breeze ascend. 

1. Stud, or studding sails, called by the French Ba- 
nettes en etui, are light sails, which are extended in 
moderate breezes beyond the skirts of the principal 
sails : where they appear as wings upon the yardarms. 



NOTES. 149 

2. Staysail ; though the form of sails is so extremely 
different, they may all be divided into sails which have 
either three or four sides : a staysail comes under the 
first class, and receives its name from a large strong 
rope on which it is hoisted, called a stay, employed to 
support the mast, by being extended from its upper end 
towards the fore part of the ship, as the shrouds ( a 
range of large ropes), are extended to the right and 
left of the mast, and behind it. The yards of a ship 
are said to be square, when they hang across the ship, 
at right angles with the mast \ and braced, when they 
form greater or lesser angles with the ship's length. 

Page 54, 1. 3. 

The pilots now their Azimuth attend. 

The magnetical Azimuth, a term which astrono- 
mers have borrowed from the Arabians, is the appa- 
rent distance of the sun from the north or south point 
of the compass ; and this is discovered, by observing 
with an azimuth compass, when the sun is ten or fif- 
teen degrees above the horizon. 

Page 54, 1. 22. 

White as the clouds beneath the blaze of noon. 

Before the art of coppering ships' bottoms was dis- 
covered, they were painted white. The wales are the 
strong flanks which extend along a ship's side, at 
different heights, throughout her whole length, and 
form the curves by which a vessel appears light and 
graceful on the water : they are usually distinguished 
into the mainwale, and the channelwale. 



150 NOTES. 

Page 58, 1. 7. 

Deep blushing armours all the tops invest. 
In our largest merchantmen, the tops, or platforms, 
which surround the heads of the lower mast (for every 
ship's mast, taken in its apparent length, consists of 
the lower mast, the topmast, and topgallant mast), are 
fenced on the aft, or hinder side, hy a rail of about 
three feet high, stretching across, supported by stan- 
chions ; between which, a netting is usually construct- 
ed, the outside of which was formerly covered with 
red baize, or canvass painted red, and was called the 
top armour ; being a sort of blind against the enemy 
for the men who were there stationed. This name 
is now nearly lost, and the netting is always covered 
with black canvass. 



SECOND CANTO. 
Page 66, 1. 20. 

And the dark scud in swift succession flies. 
The scud is a name given by seamen to the lowest 
and lightest clouds, which are swiftly driven along 
the atmosphere by the winds. 

Page 66, 1. 22. 

Low in the wave the leeward cannon lie. 
When the wind crosses a ship's course, either di- 
rectly or obliquely, that side of the ship upon which 
it acts is termed the weather side ; and the opposite 
one, which is then pressed downwards, is termed the 



NOTES. 151 

lee side ; all on one side of her is accordingly called 
to windward, and all on the opposite side to leeward: 
hence also are derived the lee cannon, the lee braces, 
weather braces, &c. 

Page 66, 1. 24 ; and Page 67, 1. 2. 

Topsails, reefs, blocks. 

Topsails are large square sails, of the second mag- 
nitude and height ; as the courses are of the first mag- 
nitude, and the lowest. — Reefs are certain divisions 
of the sail, which are taken in or let out in proportion 
to the increase or diminution of the wind. Blocks are 
what landsmen would rather term, from the French 
word (poulie) pullies. 

Page 67,1. 15, 16, 19. 

Halyards — bowlines — cluelines — reeftackles — earings. 

Halyards are those ropes by which sails are hoisted 
or lowered. Bowlines are ropes fastened to the outer 
edge of square sails in three different places, that 
the windward edge of the sail may be bound tight 
forward on a side wind, in order to keep the sail 
from shivering. Cluelines are fastened to the lower 
corners of the square sails, for the more easy furling 
of them. Reeftackles are ropes fastened to the edge 
of the sail, just beneath the lowest reef ; and, being 
brought down to the deck by means of two blocks, 
are used to facilitate the operation of reefing. Earings 
are small ropes employed to fasten the upper corners 
of the principal sails, and the extremities of the reefs, 
to the respective yardarms, particularly when any sail 
is to be close furled. 



152 NOTES. 

Page 68, 1. 6. Brail up the mizen quick. 

The mizen is a large sail bent to the mizenmast, 
and is commonly reckoned one of the courses, which 
consist of the mainsail, foresail, and mizen. As the 
word brails is a general name given to all the ropes 
which are employed to haul up the bottoms, lower 
corners, and skirts of the great sails ; so the drawing 
them together, for the more ready operation of furl- 
ing, is called brailing them up. The effect which the 
operation of brailing up the mizen produces, is noticed 
in the last note of this Canto, 

Page 68, 1. 7. 

Man the cluegarnets ! let the mainsheet fly ! 
Cluegarnets are the same to the mainsail and fore- 
sail, which the cluelines are to all other squaresails, 
and are hauled up when the sail is to be furled or 
hrailed. Sheets: it is necessary, in this place, to re- 
mark, that the sheets, which are universally mistaken 
by our English poets for the sails, are in reality the 
ropes that are used to extend the clues, or lower cor- 
ners of the sails, to which they are attached. 

Page 68, 1. 13. 

Bear up the helm aweather! 
The reason for putting the helm aweather, or to the 
side next the wind, is to make the ship veer before it 
when it blows so hard that she cannot bear her side 
to it any longer. Veering, or wearing, is the opera- 
tion by which a ship in changing her course from one 
hoard to another, turns her stern to windward ; the 
French term is, virer vent arriere. . 



NOTES. 1 55 

Page 68, 1. 20. Timoneer — 

The helmsman, from the French, timonnier. 

Page 69, 1. 8. 

While the fore staysail balances before : 
Called with more propriety the fore topmast stay- 
sail : it is of a triangular shape, and runs upon the 
fore topmast stay, over the bowsprit : it consequently 
has an influence on the fore part of the ship, as the 
mizen has on the hinder part ; and when thus used 
together, they may be said to balance each other. 
See also the last note of this Canto. 

Page 69, 1. 10. 

the' extended tack confined. 

The mainsail and foresail of a ship are furnished 
with a tack on each side, which is formed of a thick 
rope tapering to the end, having a knot wrought 
upon the largest extremity, by which it is firmly re- 
tained in the clue of the sail : by this means the tack 
is always fastened to windward, at the same time 
that the sheet extends the sail to leeward. 

Page 69, 1. 13. 

the buntlines gone ! 

Buntlines are ropes fastened to the bottoms of the 
square sails to draw them up to the yards, when the 
sails are brailed or furled. 

Fage 69, 1. 19. 

. . and yards to starboard bracea\ 

A yard is said to be braced, when it is turned 



1 54 NOTES. 

about the mast horizontally, either to the right or 
left: the ropes employed in this service are called 
the larboard and starboard braces. 

Page 69, 1. 23, 24 ; and Page 70, 1. 1, 2. 

Brails, headropes, robands. 

Brails : a general name given to all the ropes which 
are employed to haul up, or brail, the bottoms and 
lower corners of the great sails. A rope is always 
attached to the edges of the sails, to strengthen and 
prevent them from rending : those parts of it which 
are on the perpendicular or sloping edges, are called 
leechropes ; that at the bottom, ihefootrope ; and that 
on the top, or upper edge, the headrope. Robands, or 
ropebands, are small pieces of rope, of a sufficient 
length to pass two or three times about the yards, in 
order to fix to them the upper edges of the respective 
great sails : the robands for this purpose are passed 
through the eyeletholes under the headrope. 

Page 70, 1. 3—6. 

That task perforrn d, they first the braces slack, 
Then to the chesstree drag the 1 unwilling tack. 
And, while the lee cluegarnefs lower'd away, 
Taught aft the sheet they tally, and belay. 

The braces are here slackened, because, the lee 
brace confining the yard, the tack could not come 
down until the braces were cast off. The chesstree, 
called by the French taquet d'amure, consists of a 
perpendicular piece of wood, fastened with iron bolts , 
on each side the ship : in the upper part of the chess- 
tree is a large hole, through which the tack is passed ; 



NOTES. 155 

;and when the clue or lower corner of the sail comes 
down to it, the tack is said to be aboard. Taught, the 
roide of the French, and dicht of the Dutch sailors, 
implies the state of being extended, or stretched 
out. Tally, is a word applied to the operation of 
hauling the sheets aft, or towards the ship's stem. 
To belay is to fasten. 

Page 71,1. 21,22. 

They furl'd the sails, and pointed to the wind 
The yards by rolling tackles then confined. 

The rolling tackle is an assemblage of blocks or 
pulleys, through which a rope is passed, until it be- 
comes fourfold, in order to confine the yard close 
down to leeward when the sail is furled, that the 
yard may not gall the mast, from the rolling of the 
ship. Gaskets are platted ropes to wrap round the 
sails when furled. 

Page 72, 1. 3—8. 

Topgallant yards, travellers, backstays, toprapes, par- 
rels, lifts, topped, booms. 

Topgallant yards, which are the highest ones in a 
ship, are sent down at the approach of a heavy gale, 
to ease the mastheads. Travellers are iron rings fur- 
nished with a piece of rope, one end of w T hich encir- 
cles the ring to which it is spliced : they are princi- 
pally intended to facilitate the hoisting or lowering of 
the topgallant yards ; for which purpose two of them 
are fixed on each backstay; which are long ropes 
that reach on each side of the ship, from the top- 
masts (which are the second in point of height) to 
the chains. Topropes are employed to sway up or 

l2 ' 



156 NOTES. 

lower the topmasts, topgallant masts and their re- 
spective yards. Parrels are those bands of rope by 
which the yards are fastened to the masts, so as to 
slide up and down when requisite ; and of these there 
are four different sorts. Lifts are ropes which reach, 
from each masthead to their respective yardarms. A 
yard is said to be topped, when -one end of the yard 
is raised higher than the other, in order to lower it 
on deck by means of the topropes. Booms are spare 
masts, or yards, which are placed in store on deck, 
between the main and foremast, immediately to sup- 
ply the place of any that may be carried away, or 
injured, by stress of weather. 

Page 73, 1. 11. 

But here the doubtful officers dispute — 
This is particularly mentioned, not because there 
was, or could be, any dispute at such a time between 
a master of a ship and his chief mate, as the former 
can always command the latter ; but to expose the 
obstinacy of a number of our veteran officers, who 
would rather risk any thing than forego their ancient 
rules, although many of them are in the highest degree 
equally absurd and dangerous. It is to the wonderful 
sagacity of these philosophers that we owe the sea 
maxims of avoiding to whistle in a storm, because it 
will increase the wind ; of whistling on the wind in a 
calm ; of nailing horse-shoes on the mast to prevent 
the power of witches ; of nailing a fair wind to the 
starboard cathead, &c. 

P^ge 74, 1. 5. The tack's eased off! 

It has been already remarked, that the tack is 
always fastened to windward ) consequently, as soon 



NOTES. 157 

as it is cast loose, and the cluegarnet is hauled up,' 
the weather clue of the sail immediately mounts to 
the yard ; and this operation must be carefully per- 
formed in a storm, to prevent the sail from splitting, 
or being torn to pieces by shivering. 

Page 74, 1. 7. 

The sheet and weather brace they now stand by. 
To stand by any rope is, in the language of seamen, 
to take hold of it. Whenever the sheet is cast off it 
is necessary to pull in the weather brace, to prevent 
the violent shaking of the sail. 

Page 74, 1. 13. 

By spilling lines embraced — 
The spilling lines ,which are only used on particu- 
lar occasions in tempestuous weather, are employed 
to draw together, and confine the belly of the sail, 
when inflated by the wind over the yard. 

Page 74, 1. 18. 

Beloiv, the downhaul tackle others ply ; 
The violence of the gale forcing the yard much 
out, it could not easily have been lowered so as to 
rasf the sail, without the application of a tackle, 
consisting of an assemblage of the pulleys, to haul it 
down on the mast : this is afterwards converted into 
rolling tackle, which has been already described in a 
former note. 

Page 74, 1. 19. 

Jears, lifts, and brails, a seaman each attends, 
And down the mast its mighty yard descends, 
Jears, or geers, answer the same purpose to the 



158 NOTES. 

mainsail, foresail, and mizen, as haliards do to all 
inferior sails. The tye, a sort of runner or thick rope, 
is the upper part of the jears. 

Page 74, 1. 23, 24; and Page 75, 1. 1—12 
Reeflines, shrouds, reef band, outer and inner turns. 
Reef lines are only used to reef the mainsail and 
foresail. Shrouds, so called from the Saxon scrud, 
consist of a range of thick ropes stretching down- 
wards from the mastheads, to the right and left sides 
of a ship, in order to support the masts, and enable 
them to carry sail ; they are also used as rope ladders, 
by which seamen ascend or descend to execute what- 
ever is wanting to be done about the sails and rigging. 
Reefband, consists of a piece of canvass sewed across 
the sail, to strengthen it in the place where the eye- 
letholes of the reefs are formed. The outer turns of 
the earing serve to extend the sail along its yard; 
the inner turns are employed to confine the headrope 
close to its surface. 

Page 75, 1. 21. 

A sea, usurping with stupendous roll, 
A sea is the general term given by sailors to an 
enormous wave ; and hence, when such a wave bursts 
over the deck, the vessel is said to have shipped a sea. 

Page 77, 1. 3, 4. 

Too late to weather now Morea's land, 
And drifting fast on Athens' rocky strand. 

To weather a shore is to pass to windward of it, 
which at this time was prevented by the violence of 
the gale. Drift is that motion and direction by which 



NOTES. 159 

a vessel is forced to leeward sideways, when she is 
unable any longer to carry sail ; or, at least, is re- 
strained to such a portion of sail as may be necessary 
to keep her sufficiently inclined to one side, that she 
may not be dismasted by her violent labouring pro- 
duced by the turbulence of the sea. 

Page 77, 1. 10. 

And try beneath it sidelong in the sea. 

To t ry, is to lay the ship with her side nearly in 
the direction of the wind and sea, with her head 
somewhat inclined to windward ; the helm being 
fastened close to the lee side, or in the sea language, 
hard alee, to retain her in that position. See a further 
illustration in the last note of this Canto. 

Page 77, 1. 12. 

Topinglift, kniltle, throt. 

A tackle, or assemblage of pulleys, which tops the 
upper end of the mizenyard. This line, and the six 
following, describe the operation of reefing and ba- 
lancing the mizen. The knittle is a short line used 
to reef the sails by the bottom. The throt is that 
part of the mizenyard which is close to the mast. 

Page 80, 1. 13. Companion, binacle. 

The companion, is a wooden porch placed over the 
ladder that leads down to the cabins of the officers. 
The binacle is a case, which is placed on deck before 
the helm, containing three divisions ; the middle one 
for a lamp or candle, and the two others for mari- 



3 60 NOTESi 

ners* compasses. There are always two binacles 
on the deck of a ship of war, one of which is placed 
before the master, at his appointed station. In all 
the old sea books it was called bittacle. 

Page 80, 1. 19. They sound the well. 

The well is an apartment in a ship's hold, serving 
to enclose the pumps ; it is sounded by dropping 
down a measured iron rod, which is connected with 
a long line — The brake is the pump-handle. 

Page 83, 1. 3. 

Meanwhile Avion, traversing the waist. 
The waist is that part of a ship which is contained 
between the quarter deck and forecastle ; or the middle 
of that deck which is immediately below them. When 
the waist of a merchant ship is only one or two steps 
in descent from the quarter deck and forecastle, she 
is said to be galley built ; but when it is considerably 
deeper, as with six or seven steps, she is then called 
frigate built. 

Page 85, 1. 13. 

Her place discovered by the rules of art. 
The lee way, or drift, in this passage are synony- 
mous terms. — The true course and distance resulting 
from these traverses is discovered by collecting the 
difference of latitude, and departure of each course ; 
and reducing the whole into one departure, and one 
difference of latitude, according to the known rules of 
trigonometry : this reduction will immediately ascer- 
tain the base and perpendicular ; or, in other words, 
will give the difference of latitude and departure, to 
discover the course and distance. 



NOTES. 1 61 

Page 89, 1.1. 

Yet where with safety can we dare to scud 
Before this tempest arid pursuing food? 
The movement of scudding t from the Swedish word, 
skutta, is never attempted in a contrary wind, unless, 
as in the present instance, the condition of a ship 
renders her incapable of sustaining any longer on her 
side, the mutual efforts of the winds and waves. The 
principal hazards, incident to scudding, are generally 
a pooping sea ; the difficulty of steering which exposes 
the vessel perpetually to the risk of broaching-to ; and 
the want of sufficient sea room : a sea striking the 
ship violently on the stern may dash it inwards, by 
which she must inevitably founder ; in broaching-to 
suddenly, she is threatened with being immediately 
overset; and, for want of sea room, she is endangered 
with shipwreck, on a lee shore ; a circumstance too 
dreadful to require explanation. 

Page 91, 1. 9. Thus water-logg" d. 

A ship is said to be water-logged, when, having 
received through her leaks a great quantity of water 
into her hold, she has become so heavy and inactive 
on the sea, as to yield without resistance to the 
efforts of every wave that rushes over the deck. As 
in this dangerous situation the centre of gravity is no 
longer fixed, but fluctuates from place to place, the 
stability of the ship is utterly lost : she is therefore 
almost totally deprived of the use of her sails, which 
operate to overset her, or press the head under water : 
hence there is no resource for the crew, except to free 
her by the pumps, or to abandon her for the boats as 
soon as possible. 



Page 96, 1. 3, 4. Hatches, lanyard. 

Hatches, a term which seamen sometimes incor- 
rectly use for gratings ; a sort of open cover for the 
hatchways, formed by several small laths, or battens, 
which cross each other at right angles, leaving a square 
interval between : these gratings are not only of ser- 
vice to admit the air and light between decks, but 
also to let off the smoke of the great guns during 
action. 

Lanyard, or laniard, is a short piece of line fastened 
to different things on board a ship, to preserve them 
in a particular place; such are the lanyards of the 
gun-ports, the lanyard of the buoy, the lanyard of the 
cathook, &c. ; but the lanyards alluded to in the 
above line were those by means of which the shrouds 
were extended ; or, as a sailor would express him- 
self, taught. 

Page 99, 1. 5. 

Both staysail sheets to midships were conveyed. 
The fore staysail being one of the sails which com- 
mand the fore part of the ship, is for that reason 
hoisted at this time, to bear her fore part round 
before the wind : for the same reason, after it is split, 
the foremast yards are braced aback ; that is, so as 
to form right angles with the direction of the wind. 
For a further illustration of this, see the subsequent 
note. 

Page 99, 1. 18. 
■ , And hew at once the mizen mast away ! 

" When a ship is forced by the violence of a con- 



NOTES. 163 

trary wind to furl all her sails, if the storm increases, 
and the sea continue to rise, she is often strained to 
so great a degree that, to ease her, she must be made 
to run before their mutual direction; which, how- 
ever, is rarely done but in cases of the last necessity : 
now, as she has no headway, the helm is deprived 
of its governing power, as the latter effect is only 
produced in consequence of the former : it therefore 
necessarily requires an uncommon effort to wheel, 
or turn her, into any different position. It is an 
axiom in natural philosophy, that ' Every body will 
persevere in its state of rest, or moving uniformly in 
a right line, unless it be compelled to change its state 
by forces impressed ; and that the change of motion 
is proportional to the moving force impressed, and is 
made according to the right line in which that force 
acts.' 

" By this principle it is easy to conceive how a 
ship is compelled to turn into any direction, by the 
force of the wind acting upon her sails in lines pa- 
rallel to the plane of the horizon : for the sails may 
be so set as to receive the current of air either di- 
rectly or more or less obliquely ; and the motion com- 
municated to the ship must of necessity conspire with 
that of the wind. As therefore the ship lies in such 
a situation as to have the wind and sea directly on 
her side ; and these increase to such a height that 
she must either founder or scud before the storm; 
the aftmost sails are first taken in, or so placed that 
the wind has very little power on them: and the 
headsails, or foremast sails, are spread abroad, so that 
the whole force of the wind is exerted on the ship's 
forepart, which must therefore of necessity yield to 



164 NOTES. 

its impulse. The prow being thus put in motion, its 
motion must conspire with that of the wind, and will 
be pushed about so as to run immediately before it ; 
for this reason, when no more sail can be carried, the 
foremast yards are braced aback ; that is, in such a 
position as to receive all the current of air they can 
contain directly to perform the operation of headsails ; 
and the mizenyard is lowered to produce the same 
effect as furling, or placing obliquely the aftmost 
sails ; and this attempt being found insufficient, the 
mizenmast is cut away, which must have been fol- 
lowed by the mainmast, if the expected effect had not 
taken place." 



THIRD CANTO. 

Page 106, 1. 3, 4. 

While round before the' enlarging wind it falls, 
" Square fore and aft the yards" the master calls. 

The wind is said to enlarge, when it veers from the 
side towards the stern. To square the yards is, in 
this place, to haul them directly across the ship's 
length. 

Page 106, 1. 7. So, steady ! meet her ! 

Steady ! is an order to steer the ship according to 
the line on which she then advances, without devi- 
ating to the right or left. 



NOTES. 165 

Page 106, 1. 11. Then back to port — 

The left side of a ship is called port in steering, 
that the helmsman may not mistake larboard for star- 
board. In all large ships, the tiller (or long bar of 
timber, that is fixed horizontally to the upper end of 
the rudder), is guided by a wheel, which acts upon it 
with the powers of a crane or windlass. 

Page 108, 1. 3. Poop, bow. 

Poop, from the Latin word puppis, is the hindmost 
and highest deck of a ship. The bow is the rounding 
part of a ship's side forward, beginning at the place 
where the planks arch inwards, and terminating 
where they close at the stem or prow. 

Page 108, 1. 19. 

when past the beam it flies. 

On the beam, implies any distance from the ship on 
a line with the beams, or at right angles with the 
keel : thus, if the ship steers northward, any object 
lying east, or west, is said to be on her starboard or 
larboard beam. 

Page 123, 1. 20, 

.... still they dread her broaching-to. 
The great difficulty of steering the ship at this time 
before the wind, is occasioned by its striking her on 
the quarter, when she makes the least angle on either 
side ; which often forces her stern round, and brings 
her broadside to the wind and sea : this is an effect 
of the same cause which is explained in the last note 
of the second Canto. 



166 NOTES. 

Page 127, 1. 18, 19. 

the faithful stay 

Drags the main topmast by the cap away : 
The main topmast stay comes to the foremast head, 
and consequently depends upon the foremast as its 
support. The cap is a strong thick block of wood, 
used to confine the upper and lower masts together, 
as the one is raised at the head of the other. The 
principal caps of a ship are those of the lower masts. 

Page 129, 1. 18. 

For every wave now smites the quivering yard. 
The sea at this time ran so high that it was impos- 
sible to descend from the masthead without being 
washed overboard. 

Page 140, 1. 6. 

All thoughts of happiness on earth are vain ! 

" sed scilicet ultima semper 

Expectanda dies homini ; dicique beatus 
Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet " 



n%\ 



^^^ 



C. and C. Whtttingham, Chiswick. 



^ '<t 



* .+v 




,y\ 







^ y 



v 



Oo, 










' -p + 



^ .^ v 




•V 



0> <V 



* *, a : \* +a. $ - 

o o 







O * o • * * A u , 






o v 















^0 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper processi 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: March 2009 

PreservationTechnologiesj 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION ! 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 

_ii 






V 



& 


u -~CtM^ 




* a 1 \ 


I > 










%$ 


aV </> 










s ,t\V- 


■ 



,V '^. 












S ./ 



°o o ' . 









^ ? 






V* 1 / 



v 






. 



■p 4- 































,/v. 



Vv ' .«•> 









^ 



/ ^ 



^ 



<r v 









-v 



v> v ^ 






/ : 















'cP-. H 



r * C\ 



* 



V 









S- 












LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 159 026 1 



Mi 



in 









Sm 

bHBBW ^m 

IH HHH 



I 

eIIH 



